Alien: Isolation
by Liquid
Summary: On a mission to recover the Nostromo's flight recorder, Amanda Ripley finds herself trapped onboard the decaying Sevastopol station. There she must face insane survivors and malfunctioning synthetics, while also being hunted by a creature more terrifying than any nightmare.
1. Chapter 1 Wakeup Call

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter One: Wakeup Call**

The first sound she heard was the _hiss_ of atmosphere being exchanged, and as her eyes opened, she could see the blurry motion of a transparent hatch moving up away from her. Letting out a soft moan as she started to move, her body felt sluggish and heavy, but this feeling was slowly starting to lessen by the time she was able to sit up. And sit there she did, spending the next two or three minutes remaining where she was, while her vision slowly focused on the well illuminated room around her.

It was a hypersleep chamber that Amanda Ripley found herself in; a large one that contained several pods like the one she currently occupied, but the others were all vacant. This was good, since she had never been thrilled with the idea of big groups of people seeing her in nothing but her underwear, even though for some reason it was part of the standard procedure involving long-term space travel. The company claimed that it was necessary to achieve stasis safely, but more likely it was simply the idea of whatever lonely man had created the devices, in order to get a free peep-show.

By this time her body was responding almost completely, so Ripley used the pod as support so that she could get to her feet, and took it slow until there was no longer a risk of falling over. The short trip to her locker was good practice for this, since she had to go there anyway in order to get her clothes, and also because it was only a few steps away. So far everything was working again, and the last of the lingering fatigue was fading away as she stepped into her jumpsuit, zipping it up and remarking how much her face looked like her mother's when she caught a glimpse of it in the mirror.

Well, at least how she _remembered_ her mother's face the last time she had seen her, but that had been a very long time ago. It had actually been during a brief video call, in which her mother had promised to be home in time for her eleventh birthday, but this was a promise that would not be kept. Shortly after, Ellen Ripley, along with her ship, the _Nostromo_ , and the rest of the crew… simply vanished. No traces of the ship were ever found during the searches along its original flight path, and eventually all efforts were stopped, as they were _not profitable for the company_.

But that didn't mean that the younger Ripley was going to give up, and that was one of the prime reasons for her presence onboard this ship, the _Torrens_. Now in her mid-twenties, Ripley had become an engineer for the _Weyland-Yutani Corporation_ , and as the expansion of colonized worlds continued to spread, she requested any assignment that would take her along the Nostromo's flight path in the hopes that she would one day find something; wreckage, a flight recorder, _anything_ that would give her some answers about why she had to grow up without a mother, especially after her father had walked out on them when she was three.

She had been working the late shift, not that there was any real difference in space where everything was always dark, doing a patch-weld on some old pipes that honestly didn't have much life left in them, when she had been approached by a man named Christopher Samuels. Well, he wasn't a man, technically… he was one of the latest models of Synthetics; androids who worked for the company. He had been polite and friendly when he approached her, but after the company had done basically nothing to help find her mother, Ripley's first instinct was to give him the cold-shoulder and return to work.

However, this attitude was changed when the Synthetic revealed that the long-lost Nostromo's flight recorder had been found floating in space near an old mining station called _Sevastopol_. One of the work crews had reportedly recovered it, and reported the discovery to the company, so naturally a small recovery team was organized to retrieve it, and Samuels wanted to offer her a spot. So the next day she, Samuels, and a Weyland-Yutani Executive Administrator named Nina Taylor boarded an old M-Class commercial freighter, the Torrens, where the Captain, Diane Verlaine, and her small crew would transport them.

The funny thing about hypersleep was that it allowed no perception of time passing, so for Ripley, it felt like only a couple minutes had passed since climbing into the pod, and waking up in her current location, which she presumed was near this Sevastopol Station. Now dressed, and no longer feeling fatigued, Ripley left the hypersleep chamber, and moved into the corridor, where the lights were already on. This meant that there were people moving around somewhere, since these ships had motion sensors that automatically turned the lights on and off in order to save power.

The first person she encountered was Samuels. Well, not really encountered, and more like nearly walking into as he was coming out of the Torrens' medical bay. Behind him, nothing looked like it had been touched in the sterile-white room, but it was no surprise to find him wandering around, since he didn't exactly need as much rest as the rest of them.

"Hello, Ripley." He said politely. "How did you sleep?"

"Good, Samuels." She replied as he finished moving into the corridor. "Taking a walk, are you?"

Some might have found her question a little accusatory, if not somewhat rude, but not Samuels. The Synthetic just casually explained how he was taking a little tour of the Torrens' facilities, and even remarked that it was a well put together vessel, in spite of its age. Of course, Ripley couldn't help but notice how similar it looked to the Nostromo, or at least, to how it looked in the background of the pictures of her mother and her crew that she still had from before.

"How is Ms. Taylor doing?" Samuels continued, changing the subject. "You know, she isn't as seasoned of a space traveler as we are, and I'm afraid that she might find the after effects of hypersleep to be somewhat… discomforting."

It was incredibly obvious that he was using the third member of their team to distract her, but the thought was nice, so she agreed to go check on Taylor, and left Samuels to continue his _little tour_. The ship wasn't very big, so it wasn't long before Ripley found her sitting in the mess hall, looking pretty miserable when she walked in. Most people who were used to hypersleep got pretty hungry afterwards, but Taylor didn't look like she would be eating anything soon. Of course, there had been a time when long-term space travel made Ripley feel the same way, and now she understood why it had been funny to the more experienced workers at the time.

"Good morning, Taylor." She said, sitting down with her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like death." Taylor moaned, her head down on the table, with arms muffling her voice. "How do you people do this on a regular basis?"

The honest truth was that most of them didn't have a choice, since they weren't lucky enough to be able to afford the formal education that was required to become an upper level administrator in the company, but not wanting to be rude, Ripley simply reassured her that she would get used to it. She also wondered why someone like Taylor would be sent on this mission anyway, but then again the Nostromo's disappearance had probably cost the company a lot of money, and there was sure to be a whole mess of legal nonsense to be tended to. Taylor was also sure to look good to her superiors if she closed a case like this, but there was no more time for talking as an announcement came over the intercom for _all personnel to report to the bridge_.

"Looks like we're here." Ripley said as she stood up. "Come on, Taylor."

"No, not yet." Taylor groaned, weakly resisting Ripley's efforts to pull her to help her stand. "I'll be sick if I stand, I know it. Ripley, I'll get sick on you, I'm not joking."

But she didn't get sick, instead just having to lean heavily on her as Ripley guided them back down the corridor. What most people who were new to hypersleep didn't know, was that moving around was the fastest way to recover, which meant resisting the urge to just sit there and feel nauseous. This was helping Taylor as well, and this was good because there would have been no way for Ripley to carry her up the ladder to the upper deck. Taylor was still a little shaky as they made their way up, and thankfully she didn't fall off the ladder, since that would have meant crashing into Ripley, and as a result both of them falling to the floor.

"Well, look who decided to join us." Captain Verlaine said as they entered the bridge. "Hope you slept well, in spite of the pods not exactly being current. See, this tub was a wreck when I bought it, and it took a lot of contracts to refit… but it's pretty rare that someone gets sick enough to…

The Captain's words were interrupted as Taylor suddenly pushed away from Ripley before stumbling sideways, falling to her hands and knees, and vomiting onto the floor. Everyone on the bridge had now become silent, and Ripley didn't know what she was going to say to smooth this over, since the Captain was sure to be upset.

"We have a winner." Verlaine announced happily. "All right, the pot goes to me and anyone else who bet on Taylor… the rest of you losers pay up."

The crew then began to trade items like cigarettes and other things, causing an equal mixture of pleased and disappointed comments until even Verlaine took her share of what was being traded. One of the crewmembers who had lost then went to retrieve a mop in order to clean up the mess, and Ripley couldn't help but laugh when she realized what had happened. Taylor, on the other hand, was not very happy.

"You had a running pool for who would get sick?" She demanded while using the wall to pull herself to her feet. "And you all bet on _me_?"

"I bet on Samuels, if it makes you feel any better." One of the crew replied. "Of course, at the time I didn't know he was a Synthetic, so I guess I screwed that one up, huh?"

A couple minutes later the incident was forgotten, except maybe by Taylor, who still seemed a bit flustered. Ripley thought about trying to explain to her that such things were more a _rite of passage_ than an insult in deep space, but somehow she didn't think that Taylor would understand, so she just kept quiet until another member of the crew announced that they were coming within visual range of the gas giant known as KG-348. This swirling yellow and brown planet was the body that the station orbited, since it had originally been constructed to refine the gas into usable resources.

"I can't see the station." Samuels said as he looked out the front window.

"We're not in visual range yet, but you can watch the approach on the monitors." Verlaine replied. "Okay, helm… take us in."


	2. Chapter 2 Space Walk

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Two: Space Walk**

"Oh, I hope we dock soon." Taylor said as they all looked out the window to see the station. "I can't wait to get off this ship… not that I don't like your ship, Captain, I'm just looking forward to getting on more solid ground… not that your ship isn't solid or anything like that."

"You can relax, Ms. Taylor." Verlaine replied while shaking her head. "Yes, we'll be docking soon, but we need to contact the station first. I think our contact is a Marshal, um… Waits? Is that it? Connor, open a channel so I can say hello."

Ripley watched as the member of the crew that was manning the radio ran through a quick check, and announced that everything was in working order before informing her that the channel was open. Verlaine then ran through what sounded like a pre-practiced speech about her ship's passengers being on a Weyland-Yutani Bond, as well as quickly outlining their mission to take possession of the Nostromo's flight data recorder. What the Captain got in return was a garbled mess of static and crackling, and while it sounded like there were a few words mixed in, there was no way to understand what they were.

"Comms must be down." Samuels commented, still looking out the window. "A common occurrence in remote outposts… it that the station, there… can we see it yet?"

Verlaine signaled for the monitors to be turned on, and the massive form of Sevastopol Station was seen. It looked like three shadowy towers against the light coming from the gas giant, but what concerned Ripley was that the tower structure on the far right appeared to have suffered damage… at least it looked like damage; likely from a meteor storm. However, when the monitor was zoomed into a tight angle around the damaged section, this was confirmed to be impossible. The damage was extensive, sure, but the metal and outer hull was bent outward, meaning that whatever had caused it had come from within.

"Looks like the docking bay is screwed." Connor commented. "Not to mention the whole area around it."

"Well, I can't bring the Torrens into _that_." Verlaine replied, sitting down in her chair. "Open the channel again, see if you can boost the signal."

She made two more attempts to contact the station, but now there weren't even any words hidden in the mix of static. Frequency adjustments and signal boosting didn't seem to help either, meaning that the problem was definitely with Sevastopol's comms. Of course, now they had a problem: The Torrens couldn't land in what was left of the docking bay, and without a way to communicate with the station, the whole mission was brought to a standstill. Of course, this didn't make Ripley very happy, being that she had already waited for fifteen years to find out what happened to her mother… but now as she looked out the window at the station… perhaps there was another way.

"What about the airlocks?" She asked, pointing to a small access point on the station's outer hull. "We can use our pressure suits, and fire a zip-line to the station, while the Torrens acts as our anchor point. Then we can enter the station manually, link up with this Marshal Waits, or whatever his name is, and he can give you alternate docking instructions while we get the flight recorder."

"Pressure suits and airlocks?" Taylor asked nervously. "As in, go _outside_? I'm sorry, Ripley, but my contract doesn't cover bloody space-walks."

"Actually, Ms. Taylor, in this case it does." Samuels replied, moving back from the other window to join them. As you are both the legal representative of the company, as well as the highest ranking administrator assigned to this mission; regulations state that you must have eyes-on the flight recorder at all times once it is transferred from Sevastopol's custody to ours."

"Well, then it looks like we have a plan." Verlaine added as Taylor glared at Samuels. "So you three get your suits on while we move the Torrens into position, and then meet me at the airlock."

Going out into space was always dangerous, and nervousness was normal no matter how many times it was done, or at least that was what Ripley had been told during training. It was also said for some reason that the time to stop space walking was when there was no longer any fear, but she had plenty of it while they retrieved their suits from storage, so she was still good. Samuels appeared fine as he put his helmet on, and this was expected since there was a never ending debate going on as to whether or not Synthetics could actually _feel_ emotions, but Taylor had enough for both of them even if he couldn't. She was constantly muttering to herself as she finished getting ready, and looked like she was going to faint when they headed for the airlock.

"There's a chance the station's comms can't be repaired." Verlaine said as she checked each of their suits and systems. "So I'm fitting Samuels' suit with a radio booster, since he's the least likely to get hurt, and I can only keep the Torrens in transit here for twenty four hours."

"I'd like to think you'll have heard from us before then." Samuels replied while she installed the system. "But good advice, just the same."

Final checks were complete a few minutes later, and all of their instruments were functioning properly, so with a final word of _'safe trip'_ from Verlaine, the Captain left the room, and Ripley led the others into the airlock. There was a beep from the console as the zip-line was launched from the outside of the Torrens, and a second one when it found its target, leaving nothing to do but wait for the depressurization cycle. A cycle that began with the inner doors closing, and an alarm sounding as the air was quickly sucked out of the chamber.

"Oh, fuck." Taylor said, breathing rapidly. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, hating this."

"It's our only option." Ripley explained. "And it's perfectly safe if you do what I tell you, so just shadow me and you'll be fine, Taylor… you too, Samuels."

"Affirmative." He replied as the air and alarm stopped.

A couple seconds later the outer doors opened, leaving the whole of Sevastopol laid out before them, more brightly illuminated because of their proximity to the gas giant. One at a time they hooked up to the zip-line, Ripley going first, followed by an even more nervous looking Taylor, and finally Samuels. Now all they had to do was hold on as they slowly moved toward the hatch she noticed earlier, but now that they were getting closer, Ripley couldn't help but be amazed at the state of the place. There was a lot more structural damage than had been seen earlier, and she would have commented on it, if she hadn't been interrupted by a sudden explosion.

There was a flash of orange light as a large section of the station's hull was literally blown apart, sending huge pieces of shrapnel flying outward. Taylor screamed as the three of them tried to avoid the flying metal, and although none of their suits were punctured, the same couldn't be said for the zip-line. A large piece of metal slammed into it with so much force that not only was the line severed, but Ripley was also thrown sideways away from both the hatch and the Torrens. Everything was spinning as she bounced off the station's hull, but by some miracle she to grab the half of the zip-line that was still connected to Sevastopol as the end floated past her.

This stopped her from floating off into space, or worse, into the gas giant's gravity, and although understandably shaken from the experience, she was able to pull herself up the line until reaching some metal bars near the airlock hatch. The manual release lever was right there as well, so she pulled it, and there was a blast of escaping air as the station's outer doors opened. She then pulled herself inside, and there was more rushing air as the outer doors closed, causing the wind to be knocked out of her when gravity was restored, and she crashed to the floor.

"Taylor!" She called into the suit's radio while trying to catch her breath. "Samuels, anyone respond!"

There was an alarm going off, as well as a spinning orange light giving flashes of illumination, and although both of these things were irritating, it meant that the airlock was functioning properly. And good thing, too, since Ripley only now noticed that at some point during her eventful trip over, her helmet had become cracked. Obviously not enough to let vacuum in, since she was still alive, but enough to keep her from ever risking using it again. She tried to contact the others, as well as the Torrens with her suit's radio as the airlock inner doors opened, but there was nothing. The Torrens was probably just out of range, but as for Taylor and Samuels… she just didn't know.

For now, she needed to get into the station and find help, so Ripley pulled herself to her feet, and walked out of the chamber in order to remove the now useless pressure suit. No doubt the airlock personnel were going to want answers as to why there was an unauthorized access, and she was figuring out how to explain it, when she left the airlock control room and found… nothing but a darkened corridor. Some of the lights flickered on as she walked, but there were no people anywhere to be seen, and she was about to call out if anyone was there, when the whole corridor rocked to the side, making her stumble into the wall.

" _Warning: Sevastopol stability compromised_." An automated voice said. " _Please proceed to the nearest Marshal checkpoint, and stand by while orbital stabilizers realign_."

"Yeah, no shit." Ripley grumbled as the corridor began to level off. "Thanks for the warning, asshole."

Continuing down the darkened corridor, she was starting to notice just how neglected this section of the station was neglected. There was gas of some kind leaking out from cracked pipes in the walls, everything was dirty as if it hadn't been used in years, and there was even an entire section of the floor missing, probably from a long forgotten maintenance attempt. A wooden plank had been laid over the dark hole underneath, and she was trying to decide whether or not it looked safe enough to cross, when some movement caught her eye. On the other side, and around the corner, it looked like something large dropped from the ceiling, and then she saw the shadow of what looked like a large person coming closer.

Finally, some good news, she thought as she excitedly started across the wooden plank. Her hope was that this person would be able to tell her where to find Marshal Waits in order to get help for her missing comrades, but she didn't get the chance to ask. Just as she was starting across the second section of missing floor, the plank broke, and Ripley could only gasp as she fell into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3 Axel

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Three: Axel**

With her fall stopped for only a brief moment when she slammed into a large pipe, where she tried to, and failed to grab onto it, Ripley's landing was somewhat softer than expected when she landed on the next deck down. She coughed and struggled to sit up, cursing to herself as the dust that had been kicked up from her fall slowly cleared, and the first thing she saw was that there was no visible way to get back up to where she had been. The second thing she saw was that her fall had been broken by what looked like a pile of luggage, and as that luggage fell to the floor, the third thing she saw was that she was on a stopped conveyer belt.

Cursing to herself as she got up, and thankfully nothing seemed to be broken, she looked around, but with only a few lights flickering, most of her environment was shrouded in darkness. Well, the nice thing about conveyer belts was that they had to go somewhere, most likely between a docking terminal and any ships that were currently docked. However, since there were no ships around, aside from the Torrens, the terminal would have to do. The other nice thing about conveyer belts was that even if they were stopped and there was no light, one could still navigate them by touch.

So she did, crawling down the belt, while also navigating around fallen sections of the hull or ducts, and realizing just how bad the condition of Sevastopol Station was. It was like the whole place was falling apart, but how could that be? It was like everyone had just up and left months ago, but with all this luggage waiting to be transported onto a ship, where had they all gone? More dust was kicking up as she crawled along, ducking under nonfunctioning check points until finally reaching the end of the belt, and finding herself in yet another room that was illuminated by only a few lights.

"Hello?" Ripley called out. "Is anyone here?"

No answer, probably meaning that this area had been abandoned as well; no passengers waiting in the rows of benches, and a grand model of Sevastopol proudly displayed in the center of the room as if it were an exhibit in a large museum. Of course, with as dark and quiet as this place was, it was starting to feel like a museum… well, if it was closed, and all the lights were off… and it had been neglected for a few months. The model of Sevastopol was a good representation, she thought as she walked past, although it didn't have any of the recent damage included, but there was obviously no one in the terminal to help her, so it was time to move on.

There a small security station past the model and up a small set of stairs, but it was empty when she walked in, and there was no power going. It was doubtful that any useful information could be gotten from a small terminal station like this anyway, so she would have to find help elsewhere. But where? There was a large door behind the security station, and at first Ripley was discouraged since there was no power to open it, but then in a flicker of light from beyond it revealed that the door was stuck open just a little bit. It was a tight fit, and thankfully she had a build that was just slender enough for her to squeeze through. But that didn't mean that there wasn't plenty of grunting and struggling going on that she was glad no one was there to see.

This next area was much larger, and better lit, giving her hope that this time there would be people around, until she realized that the light was coming from the massive windows where the gas giant could be easily seen. No, this place was just as abandoned as the rest; nothing but a courtyard full of empty restaurants and small shops like one would expect to find in the terminal of a remote station like Sevastopol… but then an explanation was offered when the increased lighting allowed her to see a notice that had been posted on the door of every one of them.

It was from _Seegson Corporation_ , a smaller competitor of Weyland-Yutani that owned and operated the station. The notice was full of flowery, corporate talk, but the primary message was that Sevastopol was being officially decommissioned. Well, that explained why nobody was around, but there still had to be a sizable maintenance crew around to oversee the decommissioning, which would be the only reason that Marshal Waits and his people were still there. The notice also went on to explain that the station's A.I. Core, a computer system apparently named Apollo would still be there until the last phase, as well as Seegson's ' _Working Joe_ ' Synthetics… whatever those were.

There was a little more to the notice, but a slow-moving shadow prevented her from seeing the last part, and the notice was forgotten when she looked up and saw that the shadow was caused by the Torrens floating past the windows. For a second she just stood there, but then ran up to the windows when she realized that this was her chance to let them know she was still alive. Running back and forth in front of the windows while waving her arms, her only chance was that someone on the ship was looking out the windows, as unlikely as that was.

"Verlaine!" Ripley called, knowing full well that she wasn't heard. "Verlaine, I'm right here, damn it!"

The Torrens was moving slow, but soon it would be past the windows, and thankfully there was an open door for her to run through into the next area of the terminal. The large windows extended into the next room, so she ran along them while continuing to yell and wave her arms, until she tripped over something, and fell to the floor. No, not the floor, it was a kind of black and rubbery material with something underneath… no, not underneath, inside, and Ripley's breath stopped when she realized what it was that she had landed on.

 _A body bag!_

Gasping and scooting away once she was able to move again, Ripley's fear and uneasiness only got worse when she saw that it was not the only one. In fact, there were over a dozen identical bags laying on the floor in neat rows, as if this place had once been used as a temporary morgue when… well what the hell _could_ happen for that to be needed? And if that was the case, then why had they just been left sitting there for God knows how long? She understood what was involved in decommissioning a station, and it was a well-known fact that people died all the time in space, but something was clearly wrong on this station, and… and suddenly she froze as she felt something cold and metal touching the back of her head.

"Don't _fucking_ move." A man's voice said from behind her. "You're only alive right now because you don't look like you're from around here, but that can change in an _instant_ , sweetheart _…_ so who _the fuck_ are you, and where _the fuck_ did you come from?"

"Okay… okay." She answered, shutting her eyes for a second and slowly putting her hands up. "I'm, uh, Ripley… I came on that ship out there… the Torrens."

The man behind her was silent for a second, and then she felt the metal touching her head move away. Seeing his shadow take a step back, Ripley slowly turned around to see a nervous looking man with a bald head, wearing a mechanic's jumpsuit with the Seegson logo. For a moment she felt relieved when she saw that it was a multipurpose tool referred to as a _Maintenance Jack_ in his hand instead of a pistol like she feared, but she wasn't out of danger, since people could easily be beaten to death with the hammer end of it.

"Well, that's good." The man continued, backing away a little more. "Because things are _not so good_ on this station right now… see, there's something here… something you wouldn't _believe_ … and random explosions are the least of our problems."

The man was now looking around nervously, keeping the maintenance jack held up as if he expected to be attacked at any given moment. He kept turning around, looking up at the ceiling, and down at the floor, but Ripley couldn't see anything. All she could see was that things on Sevastopol were a hell of a lot worse than she thought, but even if this man _was_ hysterical, he was the only person that she had seen so far, and he probably knew the layout of the station, so she needed to gain his trust.

"Something here?" She asked. "What do you mean?"

" _A killer_ , is what I mean, sweetheart." He continued, moving back up to her and pointing the maintenance jack in an almost threatening way. "I ain't seen it myself, but it's there… a few more people missing every day… and no one seen nothing."

The way he was going on, it sounded like this killer he was describing was more a monster than a person, but there were incidents she had heard about where people go a little crazy after being trapped in a tense environment for long periods of time, but although paranoid in how he kept looking around, he didn't seem like he had completely lost it. The nametape on his jumpsuit said A. Fielding, so a name was as good a place to start as any.

"Look, Mr., um, Fielding." Ripley said, still keeping her hands up. "I came over here with two others… space-walked… now I need to get to comms so I can contact them and my ship, and then we can _both_ get off this station… if you help me, I'll get you a place on the Torrens, okay? But I can't do _anything_ without working comms."

"A place on the ship?" He asked, suddenly hopeful. "Fine, I'll take you to Comms, but it's in another spire… we can get transit on the other side of the freight area, but you'll have to stay close, because we can get into all sorts of trouble there, got me? And its Axel, by the way… no one calls me Mr. Fielding."

Ripley nodded, and then started toward the nearby open door that he motioned to. Honestly, she didn't know if Verlaine would let him on the Torrens or not, but that could be solved after they got to the comms system. However, she hadn't gone more than two steps, when she stopped as she felt the maintenance jack gently come to rest on her shoulder from behind.

"Looks like this is your lucky day, Ripley." Axel said, moving up to an uncomfortable distance behind her. "But if you even _think_ about dicking me over… well… just don't… now let's get moving, and remember to stay close."


	4. Chapter 4 There's a Killer

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Four: There's a Killer**

Following Axel's lead, Ripley passed through the door, and entered yet another, just as neglected part of the station. At first she had thought that she had simply entered an unused section through bad luck after the explosion, but now it seemed like a majority of Sevastopol was like this. When she asked about the condition of the station, he explained that the whole place had been in the middle of decommissioning when all the trouble started. Something like footsteps were then heard up ahead, causing Axel to pull her out of sight just before the shadowy figures of people ran across the junction up ahead.

"Why are we hiding?" She asked once the others were gone. "Maybe they can help us."

"No way, sweetheart." Axel replied. "Everyone's running shit-scared, sticking to their own… safer that way, you know."

They continued down the corridor, with him continuing to look around nervously up at every open duct, as well as down at the floor plating at times. In the dim light, it was hard to see the directory signs that were painted on the walls as they made their way to the Freight Area, and she was moving closer to try and read the next one, when Axel grabbed her again as people approached. She had just about had enough of his paranoia at this point, and she was about to pull away from him, when she stopped as she realized that these latest people were carrying pistols.

"We can't just _stay_ down here." One of the men said as they walked past. "What if they try to raid us again?"

"Then we shoot the crap out of them, just like last time." Another one replied. "Got it? It's that simple; shoot _anyone_ you don't know."

It was hard for her to believe that she was hearing these things, and judging by the way those men had been gripping their weapons while nervously looking around… like Axel did… they didn't strike her as the kind of people who made jokes. Once they were gone, Axel tapped her on the shoulder, and motioned for her to follow him toward an open service duct on the nearby wall. Once inside, the circular hatch closed behind them, and it seemed that for the moment, they were safe.

"Why are they allowed to just be armed like that?" Ripley asked. "Why isn't someone doing something about all this?"

"They are, it's called _surviving_." Axel explained quietly. "You can go and tell them they're wrong if you want to, sweetheart, but those guns aren't just for show, and those guys _hate_ strangers… even nice guys like me."

She wasn't exactly shocked that other people on the station had a problem getting along with Axel, but even putting up with his paranoia and snide sarcasm was better than being alone, especially since there were apparently people who just shot anyone they encountered. So taking a route that he insisted was safer, even though a bit longer, Ripley followed him through the duct, followed by a couple small empty rooms, and yet another duct. Well, he was certainly right about this route being _longer_ , but when she made asked if this was how everyone got around on Sevastopol, Axel gave her chills when he said only the ones who wanted to stay alive.

But were things _really_ this bad on the whole station? And if they were, what did that mean as far as retrieving the Nostromo's flight recorder? Yes, obviously her own survival came first, but the possibility of coming all this way and finding nothing after waiting fifteen years… was just overpowering. Finally, after what felt like forever, they crawled out of the duct, and into a large room that was lit up by industrial work lights that had been positioned around the center of the room, where about a half dozen armed men and women seemed to be having some kind of meeting.

"All right, I have one simple question for you guys." One of them said as Ripley and Axel ducked down behind some boxes. "Who was supposed to check our supplies last?"

"I was." Another man replied. "Why, is something…

The second man's words were stopped as the first one drew his pistol and pulled the trigger. For a moment the whole room was illuminated with a flash of light, more than enough to see a spray of blood come from the second man's face as he was thrown backwards, and all Ripley could do was put her own hands over her mouth as her eyes went wide. Axel was right, the people on this station, or at least some of them, had gone crazy, and now she was starting to understand why he was so on edge all the time.

"What the hell, Burke?!" Another one of them exclaimed. "Why did you do that?!"

"A lesson." Burke replied, replacing the expended bullet in his weapon. "Either Davis here was a scumbag who helped himself to the supplies… or he was an idiot who failed to keep others from breaking in here and stealing from us."

"Wait, you think someone else could be down here?" One of the women asked. "You said we'd be safe down here."

The conversation started to escalate as tempers and accusations were thrown around, but the more they fought and argued amongst themselves, the less attention they were paying to their surroundings. Axel noticed this first, and again motioned for her to follow him; staying ducked down and avoiding the circles of light being cast from the work lights. It was hard to stay calm each time they had to move out into the open, but thankfully the group didn't seem to notice them as their argument continued to build up. It was yet another dark corridor that awaited them at the other end of the room, one that twisted and turned a few times before ending at a locked door.

"Go hit that switch over there, Ripley." Axel said, pointing to a nearby wall. "I'll make sure no one comes up behind us, but stay quiet, they're still close by."

Not wanting to be in this area any longer than she needed to, Ripley moved over to the wall, and pressed the emergency override button, causing a low beeping sound as the locked door slid open. Suddenly there was movement as a man came through, and there was no time to warn Axel before he was struck in the back of the head by the man's pistol, causing him to drop the maintenance jack as he fell against a control panel. He tried to move, probably to get away, but the man hit him again before pressing the barrel of his gun into Axel's head.

"Don't fucking move, asshole!" The man yelled, turning to look back the way they came. "Hey, get in here! I got the thief!"

Apparently the man was so focused on Axel that he hadn't noticed Ripley at all, probably due to the shadows around the manual override button. She needed Axel to help her find the way to comms, and had no intention of waiting around for Burke and the others to show up, so she came out of the shadows and shoved the man as hard as she could. Taken by surprise, the man was knocked off balance, but there ended her plan. She wasn't sure what to do as the man regained his footing, and started to point his pistol at her, but then Axel grabbed the maintenance jack and swung it upward.

The tool struck the man in the arm, causing his pistol to fall into the darkness of more pulled up floor plating, and then Axel struck him again, this time in the side of the head. Obviously the man was dead, judging by the blood pooling around him once he collapsed to the floor, and Ripley just stood there in shock until Axel grabbed her arm. There was the sound of footsteps approaching from back the way they came, so she had no choice but to just leave the man there as they escaped through the recently unlocked door, and Axel pushed the override button to shut and lock it once they were on the other side.

"You… you killed that guy!" Ripley exclaimed, backing up into the center of the room. "What the fuck is going on in this station?!"

"He was going to kill _both of us_ , Ripley!" He shouted back, grabbing her shoulders. "This is about _survival_ , damn it, it was him or us! Can you understand that?"

She understood the words that he was saying, but her mind just didn't want to accept that she was trapped in some kind of space-age version of the _Wild West,_ where everybody had to kill each other in order to stay alive. But then her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of movement, not at the still locked door, but behind them… or maybe above? It sounded like someone was moving around in the darkness, but she couldn't see anything since this room was only partially illuminated by a light above the door on the far side, opposite the way they came in.

"Can you hear that?" Axel asked, still looking around. "What the hell _is_ that?"

Ripley was also looking around, but then her eyes fell on Axel, or rather, something that was falling on him. There was a kind of black liquid dripping down into his arm, and he had only just touched it with his finger to investigate, when his eyes widened as something stabbed him in the back. It was like the tip of a black spear, long and sharp enough to protrude so far out his chest that the point made a small cut on the shoulder of Ripley's jumpsuit, startling her so much that she stumbled back and fell against another stack of empty crates.

Then Axel was gone; the maintenance jack falling from his hands and making a loud _clang_ on the floor as he was pulled up into the darkness of one of the vents.


	5. Chapter 5 Transit Hub

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Five: Transit Hub**

Just like that, he was gone. One second he had been standing there, and then just… _gone_ ; dragged up into an open service duct by… Ripley didn't know _what_ the hell that thing was. For several seconds she just sat there against the boxes, terrified that whatever had taken Axel would come back for her if she made even the slightest noise to disrupt the silence that had retaken over the room. She wanted to run, or hide, or _anything_ , but she was frozen… just sitting there like a terrified little girl who was afraid there was something in her closet.

Back then her mother would have told her that there were no such things as monsters, and that there was nothing in the dark, but this time there _was_ , and it was this thought that finally allowed her to move. Deciding to risk it, Ripley slowly inched forward, keeping her eyes on the open service duct while reaching for the fallen maintenance jack. It hadn't done Axel much good, but it was better than nothing, and if that… whatever it was came back…

No, no more thinking about that. She wasn't some scared little girl, she was a professional… _a God damn Engineer_ , and people were counting on her… she had a job to do, and she would _never_ find out what happened to her mother if she just sat there waiting for some _shadow monster_ to come back for her. So she got up, slowly and quietly now, and made her way toward the other door, her eyes never leaving the service duct even for a second until she was through, and hit the override switch to close and lock the door behind her.

Now that she was in a different room than whatever had taken Axel, the urge to curl up into a little ball and cry her eyes out was strong, but she had to keep moving. Now focus, damn it, Ripley, her mind scolded. Now, Axel said that Comms was in the _Sys/Tech Spire_ , and from the way they were going, the transit elevator had to be somewhere in this general direction, so she started walking, finding herself looking around at the floor and ceiling nervously… and now gaining an eerie understanding of Axel's earlier behavior.

"Gotta keep moving." She said to herself. "Just… gotta keep moving."

There were painted directory signs every now and again, letting her know that she was going the right way, and so far she had not seen any more survivors, since given the last group, was probably a good thing. The corridors twisted and turned down the empty areas of Sevastopol for what seemed like forever, with Ripley clutching the maintenance jack tightly while jumping a little at even the slightest sound. But then it happened, she rounded a corner, and the door marked _Transit Hub_ appeared in front of her.

"What the hell is wrong with this fucking thing?!" A female voice yelled from inside. "Work God damn it!"

"Will you just chill the hell out?" Another voice replied. "You know what, gimme that thing! Burke'll have _all_ our asses if you break it."

The sound of those voices was enough to make Ripley stop in the doorway, and the mention of Burke, the one who had killed a man because he might have stolen a few supplies, was enough to make her slowly start backing out the way she came. But then there was a sound behind her, like something rapidly approaching, and she turned around just in time for a pair of hands to pull the maintenance jack away from her. It was Burke, along with some of the people, but before she could do anything, he swung the maintenance jack, slamming the hammer end right into her stomach.

The wind was knocked out of her even before the pain registered, but once it did, she bent forward, dropping to her knees, and reflexively wrapping her arms around her stomach as she fell over sideways. Finally Ripley was able to let out a labored and pain-filled gasp, but by then Burke snapped his fingers, making the others grab her and drag her into the Transit Hub when they entered. There was too much pain for her to understand the conversations going on; something about the main elevator in the back, and something not working right, but Ripley had bigger things to worry about.

Some of the others held her arms once they were at the main terminal desk for the hub, allowing her to see that there were about a dozen armed men and women in the room, and there must've been at least emergency power going, since about half of the lights were on. There were stairs on both sides of the room, leading to a second level, with exits on both floors, but there seemed to be something wrong with the main transit elevator. One of them was quietly talking to Burke before handing him a device that he clipped onto his belt, and then he walked up to Ripley.

"So, you and your boyfriend like to steal, do you?" Burke asked, coming closer. "You like to kill my boys just for fun, do you?"

She started to protest, to try and explain what happened, but then the others released her arms as Burke put the maintenance jack up to her throat long-ways, and shoved her backwards so that she was leaning over the control desk. He then pressed down on the tool, choking Ripley while giving some kind of speech to the others about thieves, and _looking out for their own_. No one tried to help her or even questioned what was going on, just allowing her to gasp and choke while Burke kept pushing the tool down on her throat. He was twice her size, so there was no way for her to overpower him, but still she tried, pushing and hitting him until her hand closed around the object on his belt.

Burke was still talking when Ripley took possession of the device, but his words stopped when she slammed it into the side of his head with all of her remaining strength. The others gasped and jumped a little as their leader stumbled sideways and fell over, but it gave her the time she needed to take in a gasping breath while scrambling to get away from them.

"What are you doing?!" Burke yelled as she rounded the desk. "Shoot the bitch!"

In an ideal situation, Ripley would've taken time to figure out which of the room's many exits best suited her needs, but once that first gunshot was heard, followed by a bullet ricocheting off the nearby wall, she just picked a direction and ran for it. A few more bullets bounced off the walls and floor around her, but then she ran through the first door she came to, taking a quick look back to see if she was being chased. The good news was that she had a huge lead on Burke's people, but the bad news was that looked ahead just in time for her foot to reach the stairs.

Reflexively grabbing for the handrail, but missing, Ripley cried out as she fell forward, tumbling down the stairs until she reached the first landing. Now adding dizziness on top of being scared for her life, she didn't want to waste the time to get up, in case they were right behind her, so she crawled across the landing, going down the next flight of stairs head first like a child. It was probably a good thing, too, since she had only just started downward when footsteps and voices were heard above her, and if not for staying down lower than the guardrail, they might have seen her.

"She went down there!" Burke's voice declared. "Come on, she's got my hack tool!"

"Down there?" Another voice asked. "No way, the lights are off… we don't need anyone else disappearing in the dark."

For a moment Ripley couldn't believe that they were willing to argue with him about doing into a dark room, yet they were perfectly fine with letting him strangle an innocent woman to death, but yet again, this gave her a better understanding of why Axel was the way he was. The people on this station were crazy… well, they had good reason, given the conditions, and the fact that something was lurking in the shadows, but didn't they realize that fighting amongst themselves just made everything worse?

Continuing to crawl down the stairs until she was completely out of sight of the top floor, Ripley got to her feet, and proceeded the rest of the way down. Like the other person said, this area was more poorly illuminated than the Transit Hub, but so much that she couldn't even see the directory signs on the walls. There were enough emergency lights to give her a shadowy outline of the way forward once she left the stairwell, but that was about it.

There was some kind of reception office off to the right, but without power there was no way to get in, so she continued on, careful not to trip over anything or make any extra noise that would alert anyone or _anything_ to her presence. As her eyes started to adjust to the lack of light, this place started to look like some kind of archive or administrative area where personnel files were stored. There were several small offices, containing non-functioning security monitors, and maybe some sort of… employee lounge?

Well, whatever this place was, it had offered nothing so far that would help her deal with Burke and his people, since they were guarding the only path she could take in order to contact the Torrens. Still, there had to be something down there that she could use… wait a second, what was that? There was a light up ahead; coming from behind a mostly closed door that must've gotten stuck on its tracks. Thankfully Ripley was skinny enough to squeeze through the small opening, but it turned out that the light was only an emergency light that was shining down on a table with…

"Oh… my… God." She whispered in disbelief as she moved up to the table.

There, sitting on the table as if nothing special at all, was a large black box. And not just any black box, but an old Flight Data Recorder, and written on the side of it were the words: _USCSS NOSTROMO 180286_. Suddenly forgetting all about Burke, the shadow killer, and just about her entire situation as a whole, Ripley opened the lid, and entered her security code that had been given to her by the company for this mission.

This was it, she thought as she pressed the _ENTER_ key. After fifteen long years, she was finally going to get to find out what happened to her mother, and then somehow everything would work out. But then the screen changed, and in a flash all of these hopes and dreams were crushed by the display of four simple words:

 _NO DATA._

 _FILES CORRUPTED._


	6. Chapter 6 No Data

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Six: No Data**

"No!" She gasped, entering her security code again. "No, God damn it, no!"

She must have tried it a total of six times, but the result was always the same; the screen informer her that there was no data on the flight recorder, and that the files had been corrupted. Her mind had trouble accepting this, since the recorder being empty would have meant that now there was no feasible way for Ripley to ever find out what had happened to her mother. But that couldn't be, not after fifteen years of waiting and everything that had happened to her since arriving on Sevastopol.

"Damn it!" She yelled, getting so mad that she tossed the flight recorder across the room. "Damn it, why?!"

The loud _bang_ when it hit the wall made her suddenly remember the details of her situation, and now Ripley clamped her hands over her own mouth, rushing over to the side of the room, and hiding in the corner in case anyone, or _anything_ had heard the noise. Thankfully, no one came rushing into the room within the next few minutes, but that didn't mean that she was safe. Sure, Burke's people might not have wanted to come down after her, but as far as she knew, going back up was the only way to get to Comms, and the people were sure to still be looking for her, especially since she had taken Burke's…

"Hack tool." Ripley said to herself.

Her mind was only now just realizing what it was that she had taken off of Burke's belt, and now moving her other hand into the light, she saw that it was, in fact, an _Access Tuner_ device. These rare items were usually issued to the Chief Engineer of installations such as Sevastopol, and only meant to be used in emergencies, such as when someone became stuck inside of an elevator because of power fluctuations or something. Even if the software was glitching out, or a callback code had been accidently changed, this device, when used properly, could match the machine's frequency, and enable it for administrator access.

Of course, this all depended on the device working in the first place, and according to the woman who had been using it on the elevator, something had gone wrong. That's it! She suddenly thought to herself as she turned the device over and opened the rear panel. Maybe she could fix the access tuner, and then give it to Burke and the others as some sort of peace offering. Holding the device into the light, Ripley smirked a little when she discovered that it was a single cut wire that was preventing it from working.

"Okay… okay." She said to herself as she carefully twisted the cut ends back together. "Please work… please work."

Closing the panel and pressing the power button on the side, Ripley sighed with relief as the device did a quick self-diagnostic before coming online. Cycling through the menus and options, it was clear that she had restored it back to working order, and now all she had to do was give it to Burke without anyone shooting her first… or after. This meant that she would have to announce herself before reentering the Transit Hub, so Ripley tried to figure out what she was going to say to them, as she made her way back down the darkened corridor. Everything that she came up with to say sounded like something out of a bad science fiction movie, but then her thoughts were interrupted as she heard something just as she reached the stairs.

Screams? Screams, and… gunfire? Again, it took her a few seconds to process what she was hearing, but once she did, it became clear that Burke and his crew had become involved in some kind of firefight back upstairs. Ripley swallowed hard as she realized that this meant there would be even more lunatics up there waiting for her… then again, it could also mean that she had a chance to hack the elevator and escape while they were killing each other.

A little morbid, yes, but she had already been on the receiving end of Burke's negotiating skills, so she hurried back up the stairs, all the while the sound of screaming and gunfire getting louder until it suddenly stopped. The silence came on so suddenly that it stopped her in her tracks just as she was entering the Transit Hub, and that was when she saw them. Bodies… there were human bodies lying on the floor around the central desk, more specifically the bodies of Burke and his crew. Of course, there seemed to be a few less than the remembered, but then another question popped into her mind:

Where were the other shooters? While on the stairs, it had sounded like a warzone had erupted in there, but there were no voices, no rapid footsteps as the attackers prepared an ambush, no nothing. She figured that if the people on Sevastopol were going to kill each other, they would take the time to steal whatever their victims had on them, but she didn't hear any looting either, something that made her even more nervous.

Staying low and in the shadows, Ripley couldn't see anyone around, but with as quickly as she shooting had ended, she should have at least seen someone running back toward the exit. But there was no one around, just Burke and his dead friends… well, wherever the other lunatics had gone, they weren't in the room, so she carefully moved into the open. The access tuner was already in her hand when she reached the elevator, and she was about to attempt hacking the controls, when something moved behind her.

Fearing that the other shooters had come back, she reflexively dropped the device and darted for the nearest hiding place, which happened to be under the central desk. But then she stopped, and had to make sure that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her when she saw something large and black slowly dropping down from a nearby ceiling vent. Its movements were almost completely silent as it landed on the floor before standing up on its hind legs, and she was trying to get a better look at it, when a sharp _hiss_ from the creature made her change her mind.

Ducking down and scrambling under the desk, Ripley pressed herself up against the backing while praying to every God that she had ever heard of that the… whatever the hell that thing was hadn't seen her. Suddenly the desk moved a little as if something heavy had climbed on top of it, and then she had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from gasping as what looked like a long serrated tail dropped down in front of her. The desk moved again a second later, with the tail slithering back up as if the creature was leaving, but when the spear-like end passed upward, a knot formed in her stomach when she recognized it.

That spear on the end of the creature's tail was what had killed Axel, meaning that this was the same thing… and now it was after her. Trying not to breathe too loudly while the sound of its footsteps moved around, Ripley noticed that the maintenance jack she had lost to Burke was on the floor within reach. It wasn't much of a weapon, but it was better than nothing, so she held her breath while reaching for it, only to jump a little when a gunshot rang out. The creature shrieked as it stomped away, and then there was some more screaming and gunshots, but it was also the chance she needed to get away.

Grabbing the maintenance jack and coming out of hiding, she picked up the access tuner and began trying to match the signal, finding a match just as the last of the screaming stopped. The elevator let out a sharp _beep_ as the indicator light changed from red to green, meaning that it was now unlocked, and the doors slowly opened just as the creature let out another shriek from the other end of the room. Not looking back, she ran inside and smacked the button; the doors closing just as the sound of the creature's stomping footsteps were approaching, and then Ripley sighed loudly with relief as she sunk to the floor.

A sudden _smack_ on the outside of the doors made her gasp and jump a little, clutching the maintenance jack tightly as the creature hit the door again while shrieking. She knew that her weapon would be about useless against something that could take down a dozen armed people, and that she would probably die if it somehow got in, but then there was a vibration in the floor as the elevator started moving. The creature shrieked again, but now the noise was growing more distant, meaning that she really _had_ gotten away.

Well, now that Burke and his lunatics were dead, and the creature was trapped back inside the Transit Hub, Ripley was free to make her way into the Sys/Tech Tower, which as far as Axel had told her, was where _Seegson Communications_ was located. Once there, she would be able to contact the Torrens, report to Verlaine that this place was royally fucked up, and hopefully get a signal of some kind from either Samuels of Taylor.

The elevator stopped a few minutes later, and when the doors opened, she was somewhere else. It looked like some kind of lobby, and when she was finally able to get to her feet, she realized that there was someone behind the reception desk. No, wait, not a person, a Synthetic. It didn't appear to be as advanced as Samuels, and from its bald head, nearly white skin, and glowing eyes, Ripley recognized it as one of the _Working Joe_ models that she had seen on some posters on the walls. _'You always know a Working Joe'_ , was the slogan at the bottom of each one, but as much as these things made her uncomfortable, it was far less likely for an android to be insane than a person, right?

"Um, excuse me." She said, still trying to catch her breath as she approached. "My name is Ripley… Amanda Ripley from the Torrens… I need some help."

"Please take a seat." The android replied in a deep and calm voice. "Someone will be with you shortly."

And that was that. She tried to get the android's attention again, but now it was just standing there as if she wasn't real, so Ripley rolled her eyes and walked away while realizing why it was that Seegson was losing the tech race with Welyand-Yutani. Thankfully the painted directory signs were there to do what these Working Joes were incapable of, and she was able to make her way down the corridor marked _Comms Control_.

" _Life moves fast_." An automated voice said as she moved down the corridor. " _And it's easy to feel overwhelmed; that's why here at Seegson, we remember that the ultimate goal is clear communication to connect people wherever they are. All local communication is processed by the Apollo A.I., centralizing all requests, so that your important message doesn't get lost in the ether. At Seegson, we don't forget the little details, so you get the big picture_."

"Great." Ripley grumbled as she continued on. "I feel better already."


	7. Chapter 7 Tut, Tut

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Seven: Tut, Tut**

Moving down the corridor, it was nice to not have to worry about insane people running around trying to kill her for a while, but now Ripley was facing a different kind of obstacle. The Working Joes were walking around, kind of arbitrarily performing their assigned tasks, but most of them wouldn't respond to her beyond what sounded like a pre-recorded greeting, and all of them spoke in the same deep, calm voice, which was unnerving in itself. Still, she was able to follow the directory signs until she passed a security office, but instead of wasting time with the android behind the glass, she decided to just go through the door… but the door didn't open.

"That is a restricted area." The android said, turning its glowing eyes toward her. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I need to get into Comms Control." Ripley replied, moving up to the glass. "It's urgent."

She didn't know why she kept expecting these things to understand the emotion in her voice, since part of the Seegson line of Synthetics was to make them easy for people to identify. This meant no simulated emotions, no deviation from standard programing, no nothing, proven when the android simply repeated that Comms Control was a restricted area, while adding a request for her to leave.

"Damn it, I need to contact my ship!" Ripley yelled, punching the glass. "This is an _emergency_ , don't you realize what's happening on this station?!"

"Apollo has the situation in hand." The android replied as calmly as ever. "Further attempt to access restricted areas… is not recommended."

Fine, she thought to herself as she stepped away from the glass. If the Working Joes weren't going to help her, then she supposed that she was just going to have to find her _own_ way in. One nice thing that she had learned about even the most secured locations over the years, was that there was always another way in, if only for emergencies. And most of those emergencies just happened to involve the Maintenance or Engineering departments, meaning that there had to be an access point around there somewhere.

Sure enough, there was a round maintenance hatch nearby, like the ones that Axel had used to move around the station undetected. It was positioned around the corner, away from where most people coming and going would see, which included the Working Joe in the security office. The hatch was locked down, but that was no problem thanks to the access tuner on her belt, and just like with the elevator in the Transit Hub, the maintenance hatch soon opened for her.

" _Further attempts are not recommended_." Ripley mocked as she crawled into the duct. "Asshole."

Well, what were the androids going to do even _if_ they caught her inside a restricted area? Unlike with the lunatics that she had met in the other tower, the first law of primary synthetic programming was that they were not allowed to harm a human being. Of course they were _also_ not allowed to let themselves _be_ harmed by humans either, so there was always a question of how exactly those rules worked. Either way, the direction of the duct was taking her past the locked door, meaning that it shouldn't be a problem to get into Comms Control from that point on.

"This is a restricted area." The android's muffled voice said. "You are trespassing."

At first Ripley was worried that the one from the security office had somehow discovered her, but then she realized two important things: First was that the voice was coming from up ahead, while the security office was behind her, and second… there was a second voice. It sounded like a human voice, but it was too muffled for her to understand what it was saying, so she crawled ahead a little faster until she came to a vent where she could see that there was, in fact, a human standing there talking with another Working Joe in the corridor.

"Listen to me!" The man exclaimed. "We've got to reestablish long-range communications!"

"You are becoming hysterical." The android replied, grabbing him by the forearm. "Let's resolve this amicably."

The man struggled to break free of the android's grip, but seemed to be unable to. That is, until he used his free hand to take a large wrench off of his tool belt, and used it to strike the android in the face. The grip was broken as the android stumbled back, some of the trademark white artificial blood spraying from its mouth as the man went for another attack. This time the android caught the wrench in its hand, seizing the tool and tossing it away, before grabbing the man and tossing him across the hallway.

"Tut, tut." The android said as it walked toward him.

The man had impacted the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of him as he collapsed to the floor, and he was just getting up to his hands and knees, when the android grabbed him again. Ripley's eyes widened and her mouth ran dry as the Working Joe began to bash the man's head against the wall until it caused a large blood splatter, and then it simply left him there as it walked away to continue its rounds.

"Have a good day." The android said as it walked away.

She couldn't believe what she had just seen; insane, murderous people were one thing, and she was even starting to wrap her head around the fact that there was some kind of killing… _monster_ in the other tower, but this… this was just _wrong_. In all the years that Synthetics had been in operation, regardless of generation, there had _never_ been a recorded incident of one of them attacking a human, let along _beating_ them to death. Of course, it also answered her question about what the androids would do to her if they found her in a restricted area, and now she knew that she had to be careful.

Waiting until the android had rounded a corner, Ripley finished crawling to the end of the duct, where she moved out into the hallway as quietly as she could. Being careful to listen for any approaching Working Joes, her semi-relaxing journey toward Comms Control had now become a deadly game of hide and seek. Unlike when she had first arrived in the abandoned area of the station, there were no construction supplies or cargo crates for her to hide behind, so she was forced to duck into a side room when she heard its approaching footsteps.

The android had just been coming around the corner when she entered the room, and although relatively certain that it had not seen her specifically, there was a good chance that it had noticed the door as it closed behind her. The only thing in this empty room was a desk, so like she had done with the creature, Ripley ran around and ducked down under it. Good thing, too, because she had just gotten down when the door opened, and she heard the android coming closer.

"Strange." It said. "Hello… is someone there?"

Staying quiet and still, Ripley wondered if there was anyone out there who would _actually_ be dumb enough to respond in such a situation. Hopefully not, but the android remained standing there for several seconds as if hoping someone would, and then it walked back out the door as quickly as it had come in. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, she crawled out from under the desk, and made sure to listen at the door before venturing back into the corridor. She had no intention of getting into a conflict with one of them, since everyone knew how much stronger all Synthetics were than humans, so she ducked down, trying to keep a low profile as she moved on.

It was starting to look like that one was the only one patrolling this part of the corridor, and it had been headed in the opposite direction, allowing Ripley to relax a little as she moved on. Still following the directory signs, the corridor soon ended at another door, but thankfully this one was unlocked. There was a hiss as it slid upward, revealing a large and open room that was illuminated by the gas giant from outside the large windows that ran across the far end. There were several workstations, as well as a few Working Joes moving around them, but when she looked at the directory sign, she realized that she didn't have to sneak this time.

" _I repeat_ , t _his is Verlaine on the Torrens_." A familiar voice said over the loudspeakers. " _Did any of our EVA team make it onboard? We've taken damage from the explosion, and need to leave Sevastopol space while we make repairs. I can't say how long it will take, but I need to know what happened to my people. Damn you all, respond_!"

It was good to know that the Torrens was still out there, and also that she didn't need the entire communications system to send a message to the Torrens, just the antenna array. According to the directory sign, that array was through a side door and up a flight of stairs, so she followed it, and found herself inside of a small control room. The computer terminal was unlocked, so she sat down to access it, quickly discovering a set of logged communications. The first one was the hail that Verlaine had sent when they first arrived, but the second one surprised her. Apparently someone had tried to respond, so she opened the log and played it.

" _This is Waits, Marshall of Sevastopol Station_." The recording began. " _You have no idea how glad we are to see you, Torrens, but whatever you do, do not try to dock or board us. We have a very serious situation on our hands, and long-range comms are down, so I need you to stand off and send an emergency message for us. Did you read me, Torrens? Torrens, please, if you can hear me, stand off and signal for help. Torrens? Torrens?! Aw, fuck this thing_!"

Well, at least she knew that he wasn't exaggerating, although it would have bene nice to have gotten that message _before_ the three of them decided to spacewalk their way over. The _good_ news was that Ripley could now signal the Torrens, so she scrolled down to the menu for the External Antenna, only to have the screen turn red. A scrolling text message was now displayed across the screen, and now there was yet another problem was piled onto her plate, but this one was so bad that she wasn't sure what to do.

 _EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS DISABLED BY ORDER OF APOLLO._

 _FACILITY OFFLINE. ALL OUTGOING COMMUNICATIONS STOPPED._


	8. Chapter 8 Internal Comms

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Eight: Internal Comms**

Oh _great_ , Ripley thought as she looked at the screen. Great, great, great, that's just _fucking_ great. Gritting her teeth and growling as she kicked the bottom of the console, the resounding _thud_ that resulted made her immediately calm down… well, maybe _calm_ was the wrong word, since now she was worried that one of the Working Joes had heard the sound, but thankfully none of them came to investigate. This was a good thing, since there were really no areas in this room that she could hide in, and she didn't like the idea of having to take on an Android with nothing but a maintenance jack.

This meant that no matter what happened, she had to keep both calm and quiet if she didn't want to end up like that man she had seen back in the corridor, but it was a little difficult to stay calm with all of the lunatic shit that had been happening since arriving on Sevastopol. All she had wanted to do was collect the Nostromo's flight recorder and find out what happened to her mother, but instead she had gotten crazy people, malfunctioning Androids, and that… whatever the hell that thing was that had killed Burke's people.

"Okay, Amanda, think." She said to herself, trying to figure out her next move. "Apollo turned off external communications… so what are your options?"

Since the order to stop external communications had come directly from the station's A.I., there was no way to get around it, at least not from where she was. However, she didn't know where Apollo's interface core was located, nor was it likely that she would be able to access it, so Ripley needed to think of something else. Damn it, if only she had someone with her who knew the station that she could ask for… hey, that's it! External communication was down, but maybe she would still be able to contact someone _inside_ the station.

Scrolling back through the menu on the console in front of her, she was a little worried about alerting more people to her presence, especially after Burke and his people had tried to kill her. But then again, Axel had been sane… mostly, so that meant there had to be at least a few normal people left on Sevastopol. Finally there was some good news as she was able to access internal communications, and as she scanned through the different frequencies, she couldn't help but smile when she heard a familiar voice.

" _Hello, is anyone there_?" Samuels' voice said. " _If anyone can hear this, we need help. Repeat, we need help urgently, please respond_."

"Samuels, you're alive!" She happily exclaimed after locking onto the frequency. "I thought you and Taylor… is Taylor with you, did you both make it?"

Finally, something was going right for a change. If she could link up with Samuels, she wouldn't have to worry about the Working Joes any more, since Weyland Yutani models like him were far more advanced, and probably a lot stronger, too. That, and he had been given the radio by Verlaine… but then why hadn't he contacted the Torrens yet?

" _Ripley, thank God_." Samuels replied. " _Taylor, it's Ripley, she made it, too. Yes, Ripley, we both made it, but the radio booster was destroyed in the blast, and Taylor was injured. She was hit by a piece of debris, and I can't move her until I treat and pack the wound. We're at a Transit Hub near the lower entrance to Medical, but the door's jammed, and I won't be able to get in until…_

"No, no, no, no, Samuels! Do not leave her alone for even a _second_." Ripley interrupted. "Everything's gone nuts on this station; Seegson's God damn Androids are killing people!"

Being a Synthetic himself, Samuels was quick to remind her that harming a Human Being was a violation of primary Synthetic programming, and she would have believed him if she hadn't seen it happening with her own eyes, and that wasn't even the worst of it. Beyond saying that the creature onboard Sevastopol was big and lethal, she really didn't know how to describe it. Of course, she probably sounded like a lunatic when she guessed that it could have been some kind of Alien or an illegal experiment, but instead of trying to give him further details, Ripley was using the console to bring up the station's schematics.

"I'm pretty close to the top levels of Medical." She continued, trying to follow the maps. "I'll see if I can find some help for Taylor… you just stay there and protect her no matter what."

"I understand." Samuels replied. "But what should we do if this… creature shows up?"

The only advice she could think of to give him was to hide until it went away, but then she had to quickly press the button to end the communication when she heard what sounded like footsteps coming up the stairs. The steps were getting louder, meaning that whoever was out there was approaching, so Ripley franticly looked around before moving into the only possible hiding place, which was to press herself up against the wall behind the doorframe.

"Apollo and Working Joes." The Android said as if doing a commercial as it reached the top of the stairs. "Working together for a safer, better connected Sevastopol."

She could just barely see it as she peeked around the doorframe; the Working Joe just standing there for the longest time before turning and heading the other way into the room where she had listened to the logged communications. As much as she wanted to stay there and hide, Ripley knew that it was only a matter of time before the Android came to check this room as well, so she came out of hiding and moved toward the stairs as quietly as possible. The Working Joe was focused on inspecting the other room, so she was able to sneak back down the stairs, but from the maps she had seen, the elevator that would take her to the top levels of Medical was on the far side of the communications chamber she had seen earlier.

Ducking behind the doorframe again once when she reached the bottom of the stairs, Ripley tried to figure out the best way to reach the elevator. She could see it, all the way on the other end of the chamber and to the right, looking more like a transit car that would take her over to the _SCI/MED Tower_ , but there were two more Working Joes patrolling the area. The good news was that they seemed to be moving along a set route, so all she had to do was wait for them to be out of the way… but the bad news was that the Android upstairs could now be heard coming closer.

"You always know a Working Joe." It said as it took the first step down.

There was no more time for thinking and planning, so she moved back into the corridor, and crouched down as she entered the communications chamber, ducking down and hiding underneath the first console that she came to. Luckily the patrolling Androids didn't seem to have noticed her, and she waited until the nearest one passed by, before crawling over to the next console and hiding underneath it as well. It was a slow process, made even slower when the third one reached the bottom of the stairs and resumed its normal route as well, but every minute or so she was able to get closer to the transit door.

" _Hello, can anyone hear me_!?" A new voice yelled from a nearby console. " _I need to be put through to Marshall Waits… my daughter's been taken_!"

"Log and store communications entry." A Working Joe said as it moved to the console and locked it. "Seegson access only."

" _Damn it, there's been an explosion_!" Another voice from a different console shouted. " _A stabilizer's been blown, is anyone monitoring_?!"

One of the other Androids moved to that console to do the same thing the first one had, and as sad as it was to hear all those people's calls for help being locked away, it _did_ give her the distraction that she needed in order to come out of hiding and move up to the transit door. Pushing the button, she expected the doors to immediately open, but this was not the case. Instead, the button just flashed red, and Ripley's mouth ran dry as she realized that the transit car was locked. It was probably meant for only Sevastopol Executives to use, and any moment the Androids were going to return to their regular route, so she took the access tuner off her belt and tried to lock onto the right frequency.

"You really shouldn't be here." One of them said just as she locked on.

It only took a few seconds for the access tuner to change the light to green and make the door open, but now there was a Working Joe with glowing red eyes walking toward her. Standing up and rushing into the car, Ripley pushed the button, and the door was just starting to close, when the white hand reached in, causing the safety sensor to make it open again. With only an instant to think before the Android would be in with her, she did the only thing she could, which was to swing the maintenance jack upward as hard as she could just as the door was opening.

"Why not ask me about Sevastopol safety protocols?" The Android continued. "You and I are going to…

The Working Joe was caught completely off guard; the maintenance jack striking under the chin so hard that it was knocked off its feet, but this blow didn't seem to actually hurt it. The Android started getting up immediately after hitting the floor, but this time the doors had just enough time to close. Then the transit car started moving, leaving the Working Joes behind as it carried her across the bridge toward the SCI/MED Tower. Rushing out the moment the car stopped and the door opened, Ripley was about to try using the access tuner to lock it down so that the Working Joe couldn't follow her, when the light turned red on its own.

" _Unauthorized security breach detected_." The automated voice said over the intercom. " _All transit shut down by order of Apollo_."

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she realized how much it sounded like this _Apollo_ computer was intentionally trying to block her from doing, well… anything at all. However, stopping the transit car had also prevented the Working Joes back in Communications from following her, so it was one of those _give and take_ kind of deals. The good news this time though, was that the car had taken her exactly where she needed to be; pointed out by the painted sign above the nearest door that read:

 _SAN CHRISTOBAL MEDICAL_


	9. Chapter 9 Kuhlman

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Nine: Kuhlman**

The door slid upward as she approached, revealing a downward staircase, which led Ripley into a four-way corridor junction. At least this part of Sevastopol was well-illuminated, allowing her to see everything around her, not that there was much for her to see at the moment. To the left was an elevator with a red indicator light above it, meaning that it was either broken or locked down, there was some kind of security booth up ahead, although there was no one inside, and to the right was another door… that slid open almost instantly after she looked at it.

" _You!_ " A voice exclaimed over the intercom. " _You there! Come in, quickly!_ "

Well, at least it wasn't another Working Joe, since they all shared that deep, empty voice, and the crazy people around didn't seem too keen on talking to people, so this appeared to be her best bet. Rushing through the door, Ripley now found herself inside some kind of waiting room, where it looked like there had once been lots of people… who must've left in a hurry to leave so much trash and belongings behind. There was also a reception office, where a nervous looking man was sitting at the desk.

"I'm Kuhlman." He said when she approached the window. "Dr. Kuhlman; I'm so happy to see… anyone at all."

"You're a doctor?!" She exclaimed hopefully. "My friend is hurt… she's at the Transit Hub just outside the lower levels… do you have medical supplies, or a trauma kit in there with you?"

Her hopes were dashed a little when he informed her that he did not, and a little more so when he said that there was nothing of that sort on this level. Apparently everything had been moved downstairs to the hospital dispensary, but the only way down there was the elevator she had passed by a moment ago, and it was locked down so that only one of San Christobal's executives could open it in case of emergency.

"That is the dumbest _crap_ I have ever heard." Ripley said angrily. "So how are we supposed to get down there, then?"

"Dr. Morley had the keycard." Kuhlman explained. "He _was_ up here, but then he took the transit car over to Communications in the next tower… and hasn't come back yet. The only thing I can think of is that there might be a spare in his office. Just head through the next door; it's all the way at the end, and once you've got the key we'll go down to the lower levels together."

He pressed a button on his console, causing the door at the far end of the waiting room to slide open, and apparently Dr. Kuhlman was content to wait there while she went to find the key. Letting out an angry _huff_ as she turned toward the door, part of her wanted to smack him for the way he was acting. Wasn't there some kind of sacred _man-rule_ or something about them being having to act brave and protective when a woman was around? Oh well, at least her task was an easy one this time.

Past the next door there was a very long hallway, and judging by the painted signs on the walls, this area of the hospital looked like it had once been some kind of psychiatric ward, which would explain the need to be able to lock it down in a hurry so that dangerous patients couldn't escape. The hallway took several turns, past observation rooms, patient lounges, and there were even a few padded isolation cells… probably for if the worst patients got too crazy. Sure, that thought was a little insensitive, considering where she was, but it wasn't like anyone was around to hear what she was thinking… okay, now _that_ thought was just weird.

Finally reaching the end of the corridor, the door slid open, and sure enough, she found herself inside of Morley's office. The good doctor was nowhere to be found, but the good news was that Kuhlman was right about a second key being left in the office. Unfortunately, it was locked behind a security glass, and Ripley didn't know the code to open it. The computer terminal on the desk was password locked as well, but maybe she wouldn't need it. Taking the maintenance jack, and swinging it at the glass as hard as she could, the transparent plate didn't break or even crack… but it shook a bit as if it had come loose.

Touching the glass, Ripley was pleasantly surprised by how much it moved, which was enough to get the end of the maintenance jack in between it and the frame. Now bending it backwards, she pulled and pulled until there was a loud _pop_ as the security glass plate was thrown from its frame, followed by a _clang_ when it hit the floor. This allowed her to reach in and grab the cardkey, and now all she had to do was get it back to Kuhlman. So she left the office and was on her way back down the winding corridor, when a loud crash made her jump. There, farther down the corridor, a ceiling grate had fallen from the vent, allowing something _big_ to crawl out of it.

"Oh, no." She whispered as it stood up to its full height. "No, no, no, no, no."

Ducking down behind a nearby gurney, Ripley knew that this was probably the worst hiding place that she could think of, but then the creature turned and marched into one of the side rooms, giving her a chance to find a better one. Not wanting to give it the chance to come back out and see her, she quickly rushed through a nearby door into one of the other side rooms, but regretted it just as quickly when it turned out to be a dead end. It was some kind of shower room, with benches, and a few small lockers for storing extra clothes. None of this helped her, and she was about to risk going back into the corridor, when a sound made her stop breathing.

It was footsteps; loud ones like the ones she had heard back in the Transit Hub of the SYS/TEC Tower, and if she could hear them through the door, they had to have been pretty close. Then the door started to slide open, and out of panic more than anything, Ripley ran to one of the open lockers, squeezing inside and quietly pulling the door shut just as it entered the room. Through the vent holes in the locker's door, she could see a massive form walking around the room, and for a moment wished that she could actually get a good look at the creature. Of course, this was also the _last_ thing she wanted, but then all thoughts stopped when turned toward her.

For a moment the creature was still, giving her hope that it would leave, but then it started forward again, coming right up to the door. Holding her breath and trying to stay as far back from the vent holes as possible, it was hard to keep her knees from shaking when it got closer, and she nearly pissed herself when its lips curled back to reveal a set of rather human looking teeth. Suddenly there was another sound, like something fell in one of the other rooms, making the creature growl as it turned away from the locker. It then scurried out of the room, and Ripley scrambled out of the locker the moment it was gone.

Not wanting to waste what might be her only chance to get away, she left the room, fearing that the creature would be right there waiting for her, but thankfully it wasn't. She didn't know where it had gone to, nor did she care as she sprinted back down the corridor, and once she had reached the waiting room again, she punched the emergency override button on the door, locking it.

"What happened?!" Kuhlman asked, looking worried as she approached. "Did something happen in there, are you all right?"

"Here… the elevator key." Ripley replied, trying to catch her breath as she shoved the key through the small window. "Unlock it… we gotta go."

He seemed to understand the urgency, so the doctor got up without another word of protest, and took the key. There was a side door within the office that connected to the security room near the locked elevator, so Kuhlman used that while Ripley retraced her path back to the four-way junction. So far there was no sign of the creature as she got back to the security office, and a moment later the doctor reached the controls. She leaned with her hand on the glass, still trying to catch her breath, but managing to breathe a sigh of relief when the indicator light above the elevator turned green.

"There, all done." Kuhlman said with a smile. "Now let's go help your friend."

Ripley started to smile back, but found herself unable to as the door behind him slid open, and she was finally able to get a good look at the creature as walked into the security office. It looked to be about seven feet tall, with an elongated head, and covered with a kind of black oily exoskeleton. Its clawed hands and spear-like tail were even worse now than she remembered, and as much as she wanted to warn Kuhlman, all she managed to do was stare behind him while gasping. When the doctor finally did turn around, he didn't even have time to scream before the creature grabbed him by the shoulders and opened its mouth in order to stab him through the head with… another mouth… inside of its mouth?

Whatever it was, the shock of seeing this happen made Ripley let out a high-pitch scream of mortal terror, but then she froze again when the creature dropped Kuhlman's body and looked at her. It approached, moving right up to the security glass, and placing its hand on it as if to test its stability. Then it struck the glass with its inner mouth, making a small crack in it, and breaking Ripley's paralysis as she jumped back and fell on her rear. The creature shrieked as it turned away and jumped up into the office's vent, giving her only seconds to scramble into the now open elevator on all fours; reaching up and hitting the button just as a nearby vent grate was knocked to the floor.

"Oh, shit." She whispered as it crashed to the floor. "Come on, close, please, close."

The doors began to close at the same time that the creature crawled out of the vent, allowing it to look at her and growl just as they closed completely. Suddenly something struck the door hard enough to make a small dent, making Ripley scream again, but then the elevator started moving, once again allowing her to escape from the creature. But how had it gotten all the way there from the Transit Hub where she had met Burke? It would've had to make its way up multiple levels, as well as crossing through space from tower to tower, but why would it do that unless…

Unless it was hunting _her_ specifically.


	10. Chapter 10 Patient Zero

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Ten: Patient Zero**

" _San Christobal Medical Facility recommends Seegson Medical Insurance_." The automated voice said over the intercom as the elevator came to a stop. " _Relief for when you're far from home._ "

Still on the floor in a sort of fetal position when the doors opened, Ripley's hands were shaking when she tried crawling into the doorway in order to see if that creature had somehow managed to beat her there. This would make no sense, since the elevator had taken her down about ten levels, but after what she had seen it do to Axel, and now Kuhlman, she wasn't about to take any chances.

However, nothing jumped out at her, and the elevator seemed to have taken her to the right place, being that this room was filled with boxes and supply crates of various shapes and sizes. This meant that there was likely to be a trauma kit or something, and she had to be close to the exit, since the elevator had brought her all the way down to the lowest floor of the facility. This made her remember that no matter how scared she was of that creature, Taylor was still injured, so Ripley forced herself to crawl out of the elevator.

The doors closed behind her as she used the wall to help her stand up, and after several seconds of nothing happening, she finally started to relax a little. Maybe the creature hadn't counted on the vents giving it a direct route to where she had escaped to, and even if it did find the way down, the thing would likely have to spend _hours_ finding its way, and by then Ripley would be long gone. The long gone part was the most appealing thought at the moment, and in order to expedite that process, she moved over to the supply crates and started opening them.

There were IV bags, a defibrillator, a bunch of tools that she couldn't identify… and then there it was; inside one of the larger crates was an emergency trauma kit that looked brand new, meaning that it would have everything that was needed to save Taylor. However, she was just putting the carry strap over her shoulder, when she froze as she heard something from behind her. It was not the sound of something creeping up from behind as she turned around… but the sound of the elevator starting to move.

As she stared at the indicator that showed it going upward, Ripley was kind of confused as to where it was going. Then a good thought came to her, since maybe it meant that there were other people on the other floors, but this hope was dashed when it kept going until it stopped on the top floor. But that made no sense, being that Kuhlman was the only other person alive on that floor, and he wasn't about to use the elevator any time soon, and surely the creature didn't know how to operate…

"Oh, fuck!" Ripley exclaimed as it started down again. "Oh, fuck, oh, fuck, oh, fuck!"

Her mind was unable to comprehend how a beast like that could possibly be able to operate machinery such as elevators, but that didn't stop her from scrambling toward the nearest exit. Of course, it didn't slide open when she approached, due to the fact that the red light meant that it had been locked down, so with shaky hands, she took the access tuner off her belt and tried to lock onto the door's frequency as they elevator continued on its way back down. A door like this one would have only had the most basic security, but with the tension and fear that she was feeling, one would have thought she was trying to break into a bank vault.

The elevator was slow, so it was only about half way back down when the door unlocked, but in order to keep evading the creature, she needed every second that she could get. Putting the access tuner back on her belt and stepping through into the next corridor, Ripley hit the emergency override button on the wall next to it that would seal the door again once it was closed. It worked; the door's indicator light turning red once it was closed, and she sighed with relief as she turned around… only to get a really close look at the grip of a pistol just before it collided with her head.

For a moment her vision went white, taking a moment for her to realize that she had fallen onto her back when it cleared again. The trauma kit and maintenance jack had fallen onto the floor as well, and she was about to reach for the kit, when a set of powerful hands grabbed her by the front of the jacket. These hands belonged to an angry looking man who started yelling at her the moment he pulled her to her feet, but she had been so disoriented by the blow that she could understand little beyond him calling her a _thief_ , as well as demanding to know _how many others were with her_.

The dizziness didn't seem to be wearing off, nor did it help when he let go with one hand in order to slap her in the mouth, but the sudden turning of her head to the side allowed Ripley to see that there were several others with him. Just like with Burke's group, they were all nervous looking, and each one was armed, but the one holding her was content to just use his hands. He struck her again, and again, continually yelling and demanding answers, but each of his hits just made her less responsive, until he finally pushed her back down to the floor and kicked her in the stomach hard enough to make her gasp.

"God damn thieves!" He yelled as she curled up into a ball. "Lock her up until she talks… and make sure she's _real_ comfortable."

Some of the dizziness was starting to wear off now, allowing Ripley to be aware of everything, yet unable to stop the others from picking her up and slamming her down onto a nearby gurney. There they began strapping her down just as they would an unruly patient, and not only was this bad because these people were obviously just as crazy as Burke's people had been, but also because that locked door was probably not going to hold the creature back for long.

"No… it's coming!" She yelled as more of the dizziness wore off. "It's after me… we have to go!"

"Oh, you wanna _go_ , do you?" The man continued as his people finished strapping her down. "Well, then _go_ … _go, go, go_!"

The others disengaged the gurney's breaks, and Ripley gasped as they started literally running her down the hall as fast as they could. It was a straight shot down the corridor where even more armed survivors stood there watching as they went by, and then she screamed when they let go just before the open door to a small room. The gurney continued on, passing through the door and slamming into the far wall so hard that it tipped over onto its side, and the observing people laughed and cheered before one of them hit the emergency override button that closed the door and locked her in.

One of the straps that held her wrists had been ripped off during the crash, and this was the first time that she had ever been thankful that a corporation had gone with the lowest bidder to provide its supplies, as she slid her arm out. With one hand free, it didn't take long to get out of the rest of the straps, and as she got to her feet, Ripley realized that they hadn't taken the access tuner from her, meaning that she would be able to get out. Of course, that wouldn't do her much good, being alone and unarmed as she was, and on top of getting away from this latest band of lunatics, she needed to go back for the trauma kit.

"Okay, Amanda, think." She said to herself as she looked around. "There's gotta be something that… oh, my God."

It was obvious that this was some kind of observation room, being that there was all kinds of medical and monitoring equipment, but there was also a patient lying on the table. And not just any patient, but a _dead_ one; a woman with a _massive_ hole in her chest, and Ripley's first thought was that she had been shot or impaled by something… but the exposed bones were bent outward… and there was no wound on her back. Suddenly the reality of what she was seeing, as well as its smell, caught up to her, resulting in her stumbling over to the side of the room and vomiting onto a surgical tray.

There wasn't much that came up, since she hadn't eaten in a while, and now she was in an even bigger hurry to get out of that room, so she continued her search for some kind of weapon, when she came across a file folder that was labeled:

 _FOSTER, CATHERINE (PATIENT ZERO)_

Unable to resist at least a quick peak, Ripley opened the folder and was faced with several test results where the word _UNKNOWN_ was used in almost every result, along with a series of _X-Rays_ that showed some kind of foreign object implanted inside of her chest. But why was everything labeled as unknown, and why did they feel the need to call her a Patient Zero? Now, she was no doctor, but Ripley knew that this was only a term used to describe the origins of an outbreak, or something that no one had ever seen before.

The limited records went on to say that she was listed as a crewmember on a ship called the _Anesidora_ , and that her body had been identified by the Captain of that vessel, an H. Marlow, but there was nothing else useful. Okay, she needed to stop screwing around with this Patient Zero, and get back to current task, which was getting the hell out of this place, preferably _without_ getting anymore beat up than she already was. However, there was nothing useful in the room, so it was starting to look like she would just have to listen for them to leave and then make a break for it, when she jumped a little as a scream rang out.

"What the fuck is that?!" A terrified voice yelled.

There was further screaming, but it was soon drowned out by gunfire, as well as a shriek that could have only come from the creature. Ripley's mouth ran dry as she realized that it was really still after her, but then there was a glimmer of hope. The screams, gunshots, and shrieks seemed to be getting farther away, and as completely messed up as it was to take advantage of people getting butchered… she decided to make a break for it.

Apparently there had been _a lot_ of people in this group, because the screaming and shooting was still happening by the time she unlocked the door with the access tuner, and as she left the room, she hoped that those people could keep the creature distracted long enough for her to both grab the trauma kit, and then escape.


	11. Chapter 11 Escape from San Christobal

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Eleven: Escape from San Christobal**

 _It's gone to hell in here_ , was her first thought as she left Patient Zero's observation room, and Ripley couldn't help but get choked up a little as she heard the now familiar sound of screams and gunfire. Thankfully, these sounds, along with the creature's shrieking, were coming from the other direction, so she crouched down and tried to stay quiet as she made her way back toward where the trauma kit had fallen.

There were streaks and splatters of blood along the previously sterile-white walls, and there were bodies as well. A lot of them had been impaled and discarded, like both Axel and Kuhlman had been, but she also noticed that there were smaller blood trails that led up into the vents, as if the creature had been taking the ones that were only wounded instead of killed, back up there for some reason. Probably to use for food later, but this was a thought that she didn't like the idea of dwelling on, so she tried to force it from her mind.

As she reached the area where the trauma kit and maintenance jack had fallen, Ripley also noticed that there were small burn marks along the floor. Actually, it was more like tiny holes had been burned right _through_ the floor, since she could see the lights from the next deck below coming through it, and around the hole was a strange greenish-yellow substance. At first this confused her, since it looked like someone had been walking around with an overfilled container of acid, but then she saw the bullet holes in the wall nearby… which had also been burned a little.

She probably shouldn't have wasted the time that it took to dwell on such a small thing, but Ripley couldn't help it as she put the trauma kit's strap over her shoulder and tucked the maintenance jack into the back of her belt. Burns like this meant that either someone on Sevastopol had invented some kind of acid-filled bullet, which was a pretty neat idea, or that the smaller burns on the wall were from the bullets passing _through_ the creature… which was not a very neat idea. But it would explain how the acid was dripping on the floor.

"Acid for blood?" She whispered, looking at the hole again. "What the fuck _is_ this thing?"

Another scream and some gunfire interrupted her thoughts, which was good because those lunatics were still distracting the creature, but now she had to move quickly since it was bound to run out of them soon. A plan was forming in her mind of how to sneak through, since the _EXIT_ sign pointed right toward where the noise was coming from, but then she saw that one of the bodies had a revolver next to it. The cylinder was open, and there was also a small number of bullets scattered across the floor nearby, as if the owner had been attacked while reloading, so Ripley grabbed all of it up, before crawling underneath the nearest gurney.

Her hands were shaking as she fumbled to load all six into the cylinder, but soon her new weapon was loaded and closed, making her feel just a little bit safer. Of course, firearms didn't seem to be doing the others very much good, as another scream was quickly silenced, but Ripley tried not to think about that as she got out from under the gurney, and started back down the corridor. There were more bodies as she followed the signs toward the exit, and both screams and gunfire were getting louder, but she tried to keep her mind on nothing but escape… until she passed by an observation window.

There was a man inside the room, running toward the far end, with the creature following in through another door a couple seconds later. Ripley should have been escaping, but she couldn't help but watch as the man tried to shoulder his way through the locked door in front of him, while the creature slowly closed in. Its movements were so graceful for something that size, but its worst feature was its human-like teeth that gave it a constant sinister grin. There was no door on this side, and the glass was shatter-proof, meaning that she couldn't help, but then the man turned to face the creature.

His own pistol in hand, he screamed while firing wildly, making the creature twitch a little as some of its green acidic blood spilled onto the floor. Only one of the bullets actually hit the creature; the others hitting things around the room, and even making Ripley jump when one impacted the glass she was looking through, but the last bullet must've hit an exposed gas line or something, because suddenly the area he was standing in was engulfed by a stream of fire. The man screamed as he was quickly killed… but the creature screamed as well; jumping back from the flames, and falling over a desk, almost as if it were panicking until the fire on its body went out a couple seconds later.

 _It doesn't like fire?_ She wondered as the fire-suppression systems kicked in, filling the enclosed room with smoke. Finally, some _good_ news, and Ripley was considering how to make some kind of flame-based weapon, even something as simple as a _Molotov Cocktail_ , when all thoughts stopped as the creature appeared at the window. Coming through the smoke as if inside a nightmare, it towered over her for a moment, and then its tail shot forward. The spear-like appendage moved almost faster than she could see as it penetrated the glass, stopped mere inches from her chest when the tail's ridges couldn't pass through.

Letting out a surprised _yelp_ as she jumped backwards, only to stumble into the opposite wall and fall on her rear, Ripley was so scared that she could move… until she realized that the creature wasn't moving either. It was trying to, and appeared to become frustrated when it couldn't remove its tail from the glass. Stuck? The creature was _stuck_? It screamed and shrieked as it tried and tried to dislodge its tail, and as fucked up as the situation was, Ripley couldn't help but let out a small, terrified laugh at what she was seeing.

This laugh stopped, however, when the creature looked down at her, as if it understood what her noise meant, and now it didn't look away as it moved its head up to the stuck tail, while slowly opening its mouth. The _inner mouth_ thing that she had seen it use on Kuhlman suddenly shot out, striking the tail with enough force to complete sever it, and then the creature screamed while stumbling back a step, all the while green acid pouring out from the wound. However, the creature soon regained its composure, continuing to stare at Ripley as its wounded tail stopped moving, and it took her a second to realize that all of the acidic blood was now being sprayed on the shatter-proof glass.

"No." She barely whispered as the creature's grin seemed to widen. "No!"

Small cracks were starting to form in the glass as Ripley scrambled to her feet, and the creature shrieked when she began sprinting down the corridor with all of her strength. Aside from the creature's noises, the whole place had become silent, and her mind was just starting to realize that this was because everyone was dead, when she heard the sound of glass shattering behind her. The creature's next shriek, along with the sound of heavy footsteps following her, pushed Ripley to run even faster, and then she passed through a doorway into a huge reception area.

Not stopping to try and seal the door behind her, nor to take in any of the details of the room, she sprinted right past the reception desk, and came to a stop by slamming right into the door that would take her out of San Christobal. But it didn't open, and there was no red indicator light on this one, meaning that there was no power, meaning that she couldn't use the access tuner to get out. She was trapped, and now her knees were shaking again as Ripley turned around just in time to see the creature appear in the doorway.

It had stopped running, and just looked at her for a second before slowly moving into the room. There was nowhere that she could have ran to or hid, so her only option was to aim the revolver, and try to somehow do alone, what dozens of armed people before her could not. So she started shooting, a _bang_ and flash of light being produced with each shot, but the creature barely twitched in reaction to each bullet striking it in the head and chest. Then her weapon went _click_ , meaning that it was empty, so she tossed the revolver at its head, but missed, and the creature didn't seem to notice as it flew past its head and made a soft _clang_ on the floor behind it.

Once again towering over her, Ripley was incapable of moving or thinking when the creature placed its large dark hands on her shoulders. However, she _was_ dimly aware of feeling wetness running down her leg as she pissed herself when its face was moved closer to hers. The creature then started to open its mouth to kill her in the same way that it had killed Kuhlman, when suddenly there was a bright light. For an instant she thought that she had died and it was the light of Heaven, but then a second light appeared, and the creature was reacting as well.

Keeping its powerful grip on her shoulders as it looked around, Ripley realized that the light was coming from work lights that had been positioned all-round the room. Then she noticed that the inside of the circular reception desk was filled with over a dozen yellow barrels, each marked with the _explosive_ warning placard, and now a high-pitched sound of growing intensity was filling the room.

"Oh, my God." Ripley said, realizing what was about to happen.

The creature shrieked as the explosives went off, filling the room with orange light, and making her ears ring as she was thrown backwards. She must've blacked out for a minute, since it felt like she had only blinked, when everything in the room was different. Her ears were still ringing, making it impossible to hear, but the whole room was on fire, and most importantly… the creature was gone. Unfortunately, the fire-suppression systems hadn't come on, and the smoke was making it hard to breathe, so she had to get out of there.

Getting to her feet turned out to be an impossible task, so she crawled, although this was also difficult due to the dizziness and confusion. The explosion seemed to have blown the nearest door off its hinges, so she crawled through into an area where there was no fire, and she kept crawling for who knows how long until suddenly her hands no longer touched the floor. The good news was that the ringing in her ears was starting to fade, but the bad news was that now she was tumbling down a long flight of stairs.

There was no way to stop herself in her current condition, so she crashed to the bottom a few seconds later, where she was content to stay, until she felt something grab onto her. Her panic was completely restored as visions of the creature flashed through her mind, and the surge of adrenaline actually helped her hearing and vision as she flailed against her attacker, but when they pulled her to her feet, she realized that it wasn't the creature… but people.

There were several of them around, all wearing uniforms, as well as what looked like police badges, but then she saw someone that made her feel happy for the first time in… since she got to Sevastopol. His image was blurry at first, but as the ringing stopped and her eyesight focused, she stopped fighting.

"Ripley?" Samuels asked, holding onto her. "Ripley, are you all right?"

"Samuels?" She asked before completely collapsing onto him.


	12. Chapter 12 Waits and Marlow

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twelve: Waits and Marlow**

A little disoriented when she awoke, Ripley had hoped that everything that had happened since arriving at Sevastopol had just been a horrible dream, since she was now lying on some kind of hospital bed. Yes, that had to be it; she had been doing a routine job, when something fell and smacked her on the head, knocking her out, and everything, the androids, the lunatics, the creature… all of it had just been a nightmare. Of course, this hope was shattered when she looked at the far wall across from her, and saw a propaganda poster that read:

 _COLONIAL MARSHALS_

 _SEVASTOPOL STATION_

"I gave you a _clear_ directive _not_ to land on this station, damn it!" A voice yelled from outside the room. "And now you wanna blame me for the Torrens getting damaged by one of my traps?!"

"And _I_ told _you_ , Marshal Waits, we didn't _receive_ your message." Samuels' voice replied. "You should've stood down from whatever… _detonation_ you had planned, the moment you spotted us."

As the argument continued, it now clicked in Ripley's mind that the explosion in the hospital had been from a trap set for the creature… as had been the explosion that damaged the Torrens. To be fair, the Marshal had sent a warning transmission, but that Apollo computer had blocked it as well as all external communications, but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to give this _Marshal Waits_ a piece of her mind.

She was feeling a little better as she sat up; the ringing in her ears and dizziness having completely faded away, and the hospital bed that she was in, turned out to be a basic life-support unit that was commonly issued to law-enforcement agencies like this one. There was also a second bed, where an unconscious Taylor was also resting. She appeared to be asleep, but her wound had been tended to, probably thanks to the trauma kit that Ripley had taken from San Christobal, so at least that much had been accomplished.

There was a shower toward the back of this room, which she desperately needed, since she was covered with blood, grease, and… other things… and someone had left her a clean jumpsuit as well, so she undressed and got under the water as the conversation outside continued. The water running over her head stopped her from hearing parts of it, but some Ripley could make out.

"So what _is_ going on around here, Marshal?" Samuels' voice continued. "Where are your security forces?"

"You're lookin at them." Waits answered. "We're all that's left; that damn computer cut off comms, so between the looters, and everything else fucked up that's been happening around here, we're lucky that there's _this_ many of us left."

She wished that there was more time to enjoy the flowing water, but as Verlaine had told her, there was only a total of twenty-four hours that the Torrens could remain in transit, so Ripley had to act fast. Drying off and getting dressed, she walked out of the room to find Samuels still talking with an older man who was most likely Marshal Waits. A conversation that was interrupted when they noticed her approaching.

"Well, well, if it isn't the one who ruined the trap." Waits said, adjusting his hat. "It was _supposed_ to take the bait we left in the middle of the reception desk, but thanks to you, the thing barely got burned at all."

"Bait?" Ripley asked. "What could you have _possibly_ used for… no, I don't wanna know. But I _have_ seen the creature… what is it?"

Now there were a few conflicting theories in response to her question, but one fact remained constant. They believed that it was some kind of parasite that was brought onboard by a man named Marlow, the Captain of the Anesidora. That was the name of the ship that she had seen on Patient Zero's charts, and apparently there had been something inside of that woman… that wanted out pretty badly. From the little bit that Waits could tell her, the creature had started out really small, but that had changed _very_ quickly over a short time.

"I _knew_ we should've quarantined that ship right away." Waits continued. "But they brought in that missing flight recorder, and just sort of mentioned the woman's sickness once we agreed to take it."

"Hold on a second." Ripley interrupted. " _They_ brought in the flight recorder? I thought it was one of the station's work crews."

Samuels seemed just as surprised as she was at this revelation, but there was a little bit of good news on the side. Apparently, Captain Marlow had been locked up once the trouble with the creature began, so she would be able to at least find out where the Nostromo's flight recorder had been found, but Waits was more concerned about getting him to hand over the remote-flight controls of the Anesidora so that they could bring it in and get the hell off the station. For now, though, Waits and his Deputy, a smaller man named Ricardo, were working on the latest scheme to get rid of the creature, which gave Ripley a chance to talk to Marlow.

"Hey, not you, Samuels." Waits said, stopping them as they started toward the cells. "Apollo's locked itself down for some reason, so I want _you_ to head down to _Android Processing_ , and find a way to get transit to its core back online. Then I want you to find out why it killed communications, and do whatever it takes to get that God damn machine to unfuck itself."

"Very well." Samuels replied. "Hopefully it's nothing but a simple glitch that I can repair… will you and Taylor be all right here, Ripley?"

"Don't worry about Taylor." She replied. "I'll take care of her, just… that creature's still out there, so try not to draw any attention to yourself."

Ripley hoped that since he was a Synthetic, the creature wouldn't notice him at all, since it probably only killed for food. Then he was gone, and as much as she didn't want him to go alone, there was still the matter of Marlow. So she continued toward the one occupied holding cell, and pushed the intercom button.

"Are you Captain Marlow?" She asked the heavyset man sitting on the bench against the wall. "Of the Anesidora?"

" _Maybe… and maybe not._ " He replied without looking up. " _Who the hell wants to know?_ "

Ripley told him that she was from the company, and he laughed a little before making a joke about them being in such a hurry to pick up their empty box. He stopped joking once she told him that her mother was on the ship that the flight recorder came from when it vanished fifteen years before, and for a moment he seemed genuinely sorry to say that he never found the Nostromo, just the recorder.

"Well, you sure as hell found _something else_." She continued. "What was it, and where did it come from?"

"I guess there's no harm in telling you that." Marlow replied. "You'll never be able to do anything about it without my ship, and I want out of here… maybe we can deal?"

Ripley's answer was for him to just start talking, and what he began to relay to her was a story about discovering a signal that led them to the planet LV-426. The Nostromo's flight recorder was found on the way, but its own homing signal didn't match the one they were tracking, so they landed on the rock, and followed the signal through a mother of a dust storm… right to a wreck of a ship that looked ancient.

The only crew they found onboard was a giant in what was probably the pilot's chair, but he looked just as ancient as the ship. It was quickly discovered that someone else had been there recently, maybe the Nostromo, who knows? But then they discovered a massive chamber underneath the wreck… a chamber that was filled with some kind of giant pods. As far as he could figure, the pods were some kind of eggs, and one opened when Foster got close.

He had been on his way down while this was going, and he warned Foster to stay back, but it was too late. There was some kind of weird creature inside the egg, and it latched itself onto her face; burning right through her helmet with some kind of natural acid before rendering her unconscious. The creature had fallen off her face on its own and died before the ship could get underway, so then they put Foster into stasis, and high-tailed it to the nearest station, which happened to be Sevastopol.

Next thing Marlow knew, Foster was dead, and something was running amok around the station. Of course, Waits had blamed _him_ for it, since technically the thing _had_ come from his ship, and that was just about everything that he was willing to tell her until he was let out of the cell. Ripley offered to try and get him out in exchange for the auto-flight codes to his ship, and he just went silent after telling her that _she knew where to find him_.

"Marshal Waits." Ricardo suddenly said excitedly. "My board in the Sys/Tec Tower just lit up like a Christmas Tree. The creature's there!"

"Okay, good job." Waits replied as they looked at the monitors. "Set up _Plan B_."

"Whatever's happening, I want in." Ripley said as she walked over to join them. "No matter where it came from, we have to do something about that creature."

Waits was actually pretty eager to have a volunteer, so while Ricardo programmed the board to do… something… Ripley followed the Marshal over to a nearby storage room, where she was kind of confused when he gave her something that looked like a modified plasma torch. Turns out that this awkward device was actually a make-shift flamethrower, since the creature was an animal, and animals were afraid of fire. This made sense, with how violently the creature had reacted to being set on fire in San Christobal, but as far as just being an animal… she wasn't so sure.

After all, she had seen now intelligent it could be, and how it had targeted her specifically… and the way it grinned… maybe it was better to _not_ think of it this way, and instead she collected up her other tools in preparation to head out. Ricardo also gave her a radio headset so that they could stay in contact, and since the whole station was wired with motion detectors, he might even be able to warn her if the creature was approaching… as long as the thing was moving, that is.

"Take a transit car to the Sys/Tech Tower while Ricardo finishes setting up." Waits ordered. "I'll coordinate from here, and give you the details once we're ready."

 _Oh great_ , Ripley thought as she shook her head and walked away. Another _chivalrous_ man who was willing to send one lone _woman_ to do the dirty work. She wondered if this was what life had been like for her mother, as well; doing all of the work while the men stayed behind where it was safe.

" _Okay, Ripley, comm check_." Waits' voice said in her receiver as she left the bureau. " _You reading me_?"

"Yeah, I hear you." She answered back. "I'll signal again once I'm in the other tower."

Thankfully the transit car was right around the corner from the Marshal's Bureau, so it was only seconds later that she was inside, and the car started to move… back to the first tower that she had been to upon arrival… and _hopefully_ a way to kill that damn creature.


	13. Chapter 13 Plan B

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Thirteen: Plan B**

Being among people again… _sane_ people, that is, had allowed Ripley a chance to relax her mind as well as her body for the first time in what felt like forever. Since the moment she had set foot on Sevastopol station, it had been nothing but a constant struggle to survive, mostly by hiding and running away. But now that her friends were safe, and Marshal Waits actually had a plan to do something about the creature, she was feeling a lot more confident. Of course, this feeling ended once the transit car came to a stop in the Sys/Tec Tower, and the doors opened to reveal a dark and silent Transit Hub.

Like the place where she had first been, this area looked abandoned, and aside from the random indicator lights on the wall panels, the only light was that from the inside of the transit car. The first thing she listened for was human voices, as well as the rhythmic march of the Working Joes, but there was just nothing. Her shoes caused a little sound as she quietly stepped out of the transit car, but then Ripley gasped as the door closed and the indicator light above it turned red.

"Waits, what happened?" She whispered as she pressed the button. "The transit system just went down."

" _Relax, we did that_." Waits' voice explained. " _I had Ricardo lock down all transit from that tower so that the creature can't leave. Welcome to Plan B, Ripley… B stands for Box… within a box… within a box_."

Well, the name was ignorant, but no matter what the plan was, or how it was supposed to work, she was now trapped inside of the Sys/Tec Tower with the creature. Sure, each tower was massive, giving her lots of room to run and hide if she needed to, but that thing was relentless, and having seen it in action several times, Ripley was probably the only one who truly understood how dangerous and frightening the creature was. But _this time_ she wasn't defenseless; having almost forgotten about the jury-rigged flamethrower that was slung under her arm, she held it in a ready position, and held the lever to start the pilot-light.

A small flame was produced at the end when she did this, and although it was no larger than a candle, it gave off a surprising amount of light, bathing the area around her in a flickering orange glow. The good news about this was that she could now see at least what was around her, but the bad news was that she was going to be a lot easier to spot while using it.

" _Okay, Ripley, listen up_." Waits continued. " _This part of the tower was built to process high-value compounds dredged up from the gas giant's surface, and piracy precautions are still in place. That means that it can be completely cut off; vents, doors, everything, so we're going to build a cage around the creature, and then Ricardo locks it down. Hence… box within a box_."

"That… actually sounds doable." Ripley replied as she continued looking around. "So how do we start?"

The next part of the plan actually seemed pretty simple, at least the way that Waits explained it. There were switching stations at various points around this section of the tower, which when activated would lock down their corresponding vents and doors, and the best news was that Ricardo was tracking the creature's movements several decks away from her. This meant that as long as she didn't do anything ignorant, that it wouldn't even know that she was there until it was time to lockdown the final part of the cage.

" _Hey, Ripley, it's Ricardo_." The Deputy's voice said. " _There are four switching stations that need to be activated to make the cage, and I'm not tracking any movement in your area, so it should be pretty easy for me to guide you to each one_."

With him guiding her, and the flamethrower's pilot-light to let her see, Ripley had no problem following his directions as she left the Transit Hub and followed the signs to an area called _Supplies Storage_. Sure enough, there was a manual switching station right in front of the entrance to that area, and it looked like some kind of tool was needed in order to activate it, so it was lucky that she had brought the maintenance jack along.

Of course, this meant that she would have to put the flamethrower down in order to use it, so darkness once again surrounded her as she felt around for where to put the tool's wrench end. Once it was set into place, the knob was turned easily, and once this was done, a heavy security gate was dropped down over the doors and vents, just as Ricardo had said.

"Okay, I've locked down Supplies Storage." She replied, readying the flamethrower again so that she could see. "Where to next?"

" _I can see the shutters, good job_." Ricardo said. " _The next closest point to you is Maintenance Access_."

This time his directions led her back the way she came, and then off to the left of the Transit Hub, and even though Ripley knew that she was alone, this didn't stop her from being on edge. Memories of being chased by the creature flashed across her mind, as did when it had grabbed her, and if not the Waits' trap, it would have impaled her with its inner mouth thing… just like it had done to Kuhlman.

Trying to force these memories out of her head, she focused on following Ricardo's directions until she came to another switching station. This one was activated in the same way, and now more security shutters were coming down. However, it wasn't until after she had reported success and was on her way to the next target, when she noticed that a security shutter had come down over the door that led back to the Transit Hub as well.

"Ricardo, what's going on?" She asked, looking at it. "One of the shutters blocked my way to the transit car… that's my way out."

" _Ripley, can a cage work if there's a hole in it_?" Waits' voice answered. " _The answer is no… it can't, so just keep doing what you're doing, and remember that this is all part of the plan_."

Silently mocking his words with a stupid look on her face, Ripley shook her head, before resuming her walk toward the next target. She understood more than anyone, the need to be rid of this creature once and for all, but that didn't mean that she and Waits weren't going to have words, as in… _a lot_ of words once this was all over. So for now she followed Ricardo's directions, which led her to yet another long staircase that was illuminated by the gas giant through the large windows.

" _The switching station is at the top_." Ricardo explained. " _Then go back down one floor, and go through the door into Server Hub Reception. The final switching station is inside, but you can't activate it until I tell you_."

"Got it." She replied while climbing the stairs. "I'll wait for your signal."

It now occurred to her that moving around the station and getting things done was actually pretty easy when she didn't have to worry about lunatics, Androids, and monsters, and soon the switching station at the top of the stairs was activated, sealing the stairwell entrances just like the other parts. Now she headed back down one floor, and into an open room where the words _SERVER HUB RECEPTION_ were painted on the wall behind a large desk. The switching station was against the far wall, next to an open door that led into a room that seemed to be filled with large computer server towers, and this was apparently where the creature was to be trapped.

"I'm inside the reception office." Ripley reported, still looking around. "So… what do we do now?"

" _You're not gonna like this part, Ripley, but too bad_." Waits' voice answered. " _Ricardo's about to draw the creature toward your location, so find a place to hide, and then use the switching station to trap it once it passes through. Good luck_."

Before she could do or say anything else, an alarm started going off, making her jump as the whole place was lit up with spinning yellow lights on the walls. The same thing was happening on the stairwell, and probably in lots of other places as well in order to make a trail for the creature to follow. It would have been nice to have a little more warning _before_ the light show started, but there was nothing she could do about that now, and the creature was probably already on its way. The only available hiding place was under the reception desk, so Ripley ran around it, and crawled under so that she could still see the stairwell door.

Part of her couldn't believe that she was sitting there _waiting_ for the creature to show up, and if this weren't suspenseful enough, the alarm and spinning lights added plenty of tension. So she waited and waited, and just when it seemed like it wasn't going to take the bait, Ripley froze as the creature appeared in the doorway. Somehow the lights made it seem even more frightening, and she hadn't thought that was possible, yet there she was, so terrified that it was hard to even take a breath without making noise.

Once it moved farther into the room, she could only see its large black feet as it moved around the reception office, and she just hoped that it continued into the Server Hub. Once the creature did that, she could use the switching station, and then it would be all over. The monster would be in its cage, and then they could find a way to contact the Torrens. However, the creature didn't seem interested in continuing on into the next room… and was now coming closer to the desk.

"No." She silently mouthed as its feet approached. "No, no, please, no."

Still it approached, stopping at the front of the desk so that its feet were only inches from her face, and then turning… to walk around it. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the creature walked around to the side, and a knot formed in Ripley's stomach as she realized that this time there was no pre-set trap to save her. A tear ran down her cheek as the creature started to come around the back of the desk, but then it froze when the alarms and lights stopped; replaced by alarms and lights from within the Server Hub an instant later.

Growling as it turned and ran away from the reception desk, Ripley knew that this was her only chance, so she waited until its feet vanished through the next door, and that was when she made her move. Scrambling out from behind the desk with the maintenance jack ready, she sprinted over to the switching station, slammed the tool in place, and activated it. The creature was already about halfway across the Server Hub, when the noise caused it to turn around, but it was too late as the security shutters came down over the vents.

However, the shutter that covered the doors did not come down over the entrance to the Server Farm… but over the doorway that led back to the stairwell, trapping her as the indicator light on the switching station turned red, meaning that she could no longer use it. As for the creature, it had spotted her, and was growling so loudly that its head was shaking while its shortened tail whipped around.

"Oh… fuck." She whispered as it started walking toward her.


	14. Chapter 14 KG348

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Fourteen: KG348**

Carefully backing away until she found herself up against the security shutter, Ripley could barely force herself to breathe as the creature followed. There was nowhere for her to run to or hide this time, and now it was stepping through the open door from the Server Hub to reception, when she remembered that she still had the make-shift flamethrower. So she fumbled around to get the weapon ready, and then pulled the trigger, releasing a stream of chemicals into the pilot light.

The result was an intense orange light filling the room as a wide cone of fire erupted toward the creature, making it shriek as its body was engulfed. As it had done in San Christobal, the creature nearly fell over backwards in its effort to escape, and it had gotten all the way back to the open doorway, when the fire on its black, oily body went out. This left the creature literally smoldering as its gaze locked back onto her, and with an angry shriek it rushed in for the kill, stopped again by the flamethrower while Ripley let out her own terrified scream that was just as loud.

"Get me out of here!" She screamed into the radio as the creature retreated. "Waits, Ricardo, get me out of here, _now_!"

" _Ripley, are you okay?!_ " Ricardo's voice replied. " _What's going on in there?!_ "

" _Damn it, Ripley, you have to calm down_." Waits' voice interrupted. " _This is all part of the plan._ "

"Fuck your plan!" She yelled, before driving the creature back again. "You locked me in here with this God damn thing, and now it's just… it's just…

This time when the creature was driven back, it didn't immediately come after her again. Instead, it just glared at her for a few seconds, and then it just… walked away. Letting out a growl that almost sounded irritated, the creature marched back into the Server Hub, and then it turned left, and that was when she lost sight of it. Well, once its tail vanished around the corner as well, that is.

" _Ripley, are you still there_?" Waits asked as she watched it go. " _Ripley, what is your status? What happened with the creature?_ "

"I'm fine, Waits… _like you care_." Ripley replied with anger and fear in her voice. "The creature just… it just _left_ ; walked away into the Server Hub."

" _Hold on, let me see if I can track it_." Ricardo added. " _Ah, there it is… it's moving toward the far end of the room, and I think it just entered one of that section's internal cooling ducts. The motion trackers aren't picking it up anymore, meaning that it's just sitting there, so if you're going to do something, now's the time_."

" _Okay, Ripley, here's the deal_." Waits continued as she leaned to see more into the next room. " _I can't let you out without that thing escaping, too, so you're going to have to lure it into the final cage, and to do that you're going to have to go through the Server Hub and into the next corridor. From there, you need to lure the creature to an area called Gemini Labs Module KG348; just follow the signs, and let me know when you get there_."

Oh, it was _that_ easy? She thought as she tried to keep the flamethrower ready with her trembling hands. Then he should have just said so in the first place, since there was no pressure or anything. It was highly doubtful that the Marshal was going to change his mind and risk letting the creature out in order to free her, so Ripley swallowed hard, and summoned all of her courage while moving toward the Server Hub.

As she reached the doorway, and peeked around to see if there was any sign of the creature, she realized that now she was even more scared than when it had been attacking. Yes, it had been horrifying to have to face it directly, but at least she had known where it was. Now it had apparently gone into the cooling ducts above the server towers, meaning that it could drop down out of any of them… at any time. So she went back to using the careful approach, trying to not make a sound as she began to creep past the server towers.

Although a few had been knocked over and were no longer functioning, most of the servers were still illuminated. This was nice since the lights allowed her to see while stepping over the cables and wires that ran along the floor, but at the same time allowed anything else in the room to see _her_ more clearly. So far there was no sign of the creature, but then she stepped in something wet, causing her to look down and see a Working Joe lying on the floor. It wasn't moving, and the lower half of its body had been crushed by a fallen server tower, but that didn't stop it from suddenly grabbing Ripley by the ankle when she tried to pass by.

"I found you." It said in that horrible voice as she tripped. "Come with me, please."

Its grip tightened to a point where it felt like the Android was going to crush her ankle, and somehow she didn't think that the flamethrower would help very much this time, so she let it hang loosely on her shoulder, while she took out the maintenance jack. It was impossible to avoid making noise when she bashed it in the head, causing the Android to make some gurgling noises as white blood spewed from its mouth, but it just wouldn't let go. So she struck its head again, and again until the Working Joe finally collapsed; its eyes no longer glowing, and its grip loosened.

The doorway to the next corridor was only a short distance away, so she got to her hands and knees to get up, when the powerful grip returned to her ankle, this time making her cry out as it dragged her backwards. But this time it was not a Working Joe that she saw towering over her when she rolled onto her back, but _the creature_. The maintenance jack was already in her hands, so Ripley reacted by instinctively jamming the tool into the creature's opening mouth as far as she could, and then trying to get the flamethrower up while it was distracted.

It only took a couple seconds for the surprised creature to yank the long metal tool from its mouth, and it had just discarded the maintenance jack, causing a _clang_ to echo through the room as Ripley pulled the trigger. She had to look away as the flames were disbursed between them, and the good news was that she had successfully driven the creature back once again. The bad news, however, was that while it was panicking, the creature's foot had stomped down onto her chest, knocking the wind out of her.

Regardless of how badly her ankle, and now her chest, was hurting, Ripley knew that the creature would soon make another attempt on her life, so she pulled herself to her feet, and scrambled into the corridor. The directory sign said that KG348 was to the right, so she continued to scramble, while continuously looking for any signs that the creature was still following her. It was, of course, and as she continued down the corridor, it matched her speed, while keeping well out of the flamethrower's range.

There were no other doors or junctions in this long corridor, and when she finally backed through the open doorway into the module, she noticed that the door was a lot heavier looking than the others. Obviously, this was because it was a pressure door, meant for being sealed when shuttles or other things were launched into space, and… oh, shit, was that Waits' plan? Was he going to trap the creature in there and then jettison the module into space?

The module had a circular layout, with a single corridor that looked like it went all the way around, with all of the labs clustered in the center. That meant that she could easily keep the creature following her all the way around, and then the Marshals could seal the pressure door once she was out. This was… actually a good plan, and it made Ripley feel a little less scared to know that it could be done.

"I'm inside the module." She reported, still backing away as the creature approached the entrance. "So, I just lead it around, and then you trap it, right?"

" _Pretty much, but I need you to do one more thing_." Waits' voice replied. " _The lab was taken offline a few months ago to save power while Seegson tried to sell it, so there's no power. I need you to reset the main breaker in the middle of the labs, and then I'll give Ricardo the signal once you're clear_."

The creature was just now entering the module, and Ripley broke the line of sight between them as she went around the circle, and she used that moment of cover to duck into the centralized labs. Staying low and quiet as she moved past the testing equipment and tables, she made her way through two rooms until she reached the central support column, where the breaker switch was located. The heavy lever required two hands to pull, but the creature hadn't seemed to discover her yet, so she let the flamethrower hang while she grabbed it.

The lever made a loud squeak as she pulled it down, and then there was a humming sound as the emergency lights went out, slowly replaced by the normal ceiling lights room by room. Now all she had to do was get out, so Ripley readied the flamethrower, and had just about made it out of the central labs without incident, when she stopped as the creature appeared in the doorway to the circular corridor. It had to duck down a little to come through, but another blast from the flamethrower made it rethink this choice. Thanks to this weapon, she would be able to easily keep it back while she escaped, but then she pulled the trigger again, and barely anything came out.

Again and again she pulled the trigger, but only a tiny burst of flame came out of the weapon, and now fear and panic were setting in as she realized that she was out of ammo. This meant that she no longer had a means to defend herself the next time it came after her, so if she was going to survive, then she had to get out of there _right now_. The creature was still reeling back from the last hit it had taken, and this gave her the chance to run for the pressure door, so she dropped the weapon and turned to do just that, when she glanced through the lab windows… and saw that the pressure door was closing.

" _Attention: Hazardous materials detected_." An automated voice announced as the door locked. " _Initiating emergency jettison sequence_."

"What?" She asked in disbelief. "No! No, I'm still in here! Waits!"

" _I'm sorry, Ripley_." The Marshal's voice replied. " _But I can't risk it getting away_."

Suddenly alarms started going off while spinning lights started activating everywhere, but worst of all, the creature was no longer burning. It shrieked at her, and had just started to rush forward, when there was a rumbling sound as the whole module literally tipped onto its side. Ripley crashed into a nearby wall, while the creature, still in the circular corridor, tumbled out of sight, but this was not what she was focused on at the moment. Because through the outside windows, she could see that not only had the module tipped over… but it was now slowly floating away from Sevastopol station.


	15. Chapter 15 End of the Hunt

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Fifteen: End of the Hunt**

" _Ripley, what happened?!_ " Ricardo's voice broke through. " _You weren't supposed to jettison the module, yourself!_ "

"I didn't!" She yelled back, standing up on the wall that now served as the floor. "The sequence started as soon as I pulled the breaker switch!"

" _Damn it, I had no choice_." Waits explained as she fought to keep her balance. " _But we did it, Ripley, it's off the station… I'm sorry it came to this, but you saved a lot of lives today_."

The module tilted again so that it was upside down before she could reply, but instead of slamming into the ceiling, Ripley barely moved at all. In fact, she and everything else not bolted down was now floating in the air as they left the gravitational field of Sevastopol station, leaving her unable to control her direction, but she hoped, as she floated up toward the ceiling, that it would impair the creature as well. Of course, the thought of the creature still being after her caused the fear to return, since now without the flamethrower, she was even more helpless than she had been in San Christobal.

"I don't wanna die in here, Ricardo!" She exclaimed, pushing off the ceiling so she was facing the floor. "Please, there has to be _some way_ you can help me get out of this!"

" _Hold on, I'm bringing up the module's schematics right now_." His voice crackled through the radio. " _Okay, the module is programmed to be self-sufficient, even when jettisoned, so the good news is that everything in there should still be working. Did the gravity field come online yet?_ "

Ripley was about to answer, but was interrupted as everything in the room, including herself, suddenly crashing back down toward the floor. She slammed onto the metal surface hard enough to make her cry out, but then she realized that the creature had most likely fallen back down as well, but hopefully all of the crashing equipment would mask the sound that she made.

"Yeah… its back on." She groaned while starting to get up. "Ricardo, the flamethrower's empty, and…

Her words stopped when the sound of crunching glass reached her ears, followed by more, and it didn't take long for her to realize what it was, especially since each one sounded a little bit closer. Looking around for a place to hide, and trying to listen over the sound of Ricardo's increasingly frantic requests for her status, Ripley spotted an open wall locker nearby. It was better than being caught out in the open, so she did her best to not make any noise as she moved toward it, and closed the door once she squeezed inside.

"I'm here, Ricardo." She whispered as the creature's head peeked around the corner. "The flamethrower's empty, and the creature's here… please help me."

As the creature walked into the room, Ripley noticed that it was not moving as gracefully as it had before. In fact, the creature now seemed to be limping; running one hand along the wall to steady itself while heavily favoring its right leg, as if it had been injured during the jettison sequence. Maybe this would allow her to outrun it if she made a break for… wherever she could go, but these thoughts were stopped as the creature stumbled, stopping itself from falling over by slamming its hand onto the holes that she was looking through. Putting her hand over her mouth to keep from crying out, she shut her eyes tight, but couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

" _I've got it, Ripley_." Ricardo said excitedly. " _You have to get to the emergency airlock at the far end of the module from where you came in_ , _but you've got to get there before the module is sucked into the gas giant's atmosphere_."

Finally working up the courage to open her eyes just as the creature limped away from the locker, she waited until it had moved onto the next room before daring to silently open the locker door. Trying to creep out as carefully as she could, Ripley was on her tip-toes, turning her head to see that the creature was still in the next room, facing away from her, when it felt like her heart stopped for a moment as her next step produced the _crunch_ of broken glass. The creature immediately turned around, growling as they stared at each other, and then shrieking as it started after her.

Turning away and rushing out the door, Ripley sprinted down the circular corridor toward the far end of the module; not daring to look back even though the creature's limping footsteps were getting closer. The constant alarms and spinning lights only fueled the terror that she felt as she headed toward the door that had the words EMERGENCY AIRLOCK painted above it. But still the creature's steps got closer, frightening her so much that she dove through the door, landing hard, but then rolling over and kicking the large button on the wall.

The creature had been right on her heels, but hitting the button caused it to shriek angrily as the heavy door closed in its face, and Ripley could hear it banging on the other side while she tried to catch her breath.

"I'm in." She panted into the radio. "Ricardo, I'm inside the airlock… and the creature's trapped."

" _That's excellent, Ripley_!" His voice replied happily. " _I'm so glad you're safe… now hurry up and get into a suit. You're only chance is to launch yourself back toward the station, and to do that you'll have to open the outer doors without depressurizing. But, Ripley, you'll have to do it while you're aimed at Sevastopol, or else you'll be sucked into the gas giant's gravity_."

The creature was still banging on the inner door, which gave her the motivation that she needed in order to get back up, and open the locker which housed the EV suits. It was dangerous to use one without someone else there to check the systems, but then again, this _entire plan_ was almost suicidal. So she got into one, and clicked the helmet into place, before walking over to the manual controls, and waiting for Ricardo's signal after telling him that she was ready.

The order to _'go, now!'_ came about ten seconds later, and Ripley found herself pushing the button without hesitation, causing her and all the trapped air within the airlock to be expelled at incredible speed. Now she was spinning, watching flashes of the station getting closer, while the module got farther away, and she felt an incredible sense of relief when the module finally vanished into the gas giant's atmosphere. She had done it… the creature was gone, and now she was on her way back to a creature-free Sevastopol… at high speeds… and without a way to stop.

Crying out in pain as she crashed into the surface of the station, she bounced off, flailing around desperately for something to grab onto. She found it, in the form of one of the station's many antennas, which allowed her to keep from floating off into space, but then Ripley heard a hissing sound. Looking up, she gasped with horror as she saw that air was escaping through a tiny crack that had formed in her helmet, and now she needed to find a way in before her oxygen ran out.

Thankfully, antennas like this required regular maintenance, which meant that there had to be a service airlock nearby. So using the antenna, so climbed back toward the wall, and searched until she saw it. The crack in her helmet was getting larger, allowing more air to escape as she moved toward the airlock, causing Ripley to cough while pulling down on the release lever. These gasps turned into desperate gasps as she dragged herself inside, and she was already starting to get tunnel vision when she hit the button to start the repressurizing sequence.

The outer door closed, and oxygen was pumped into the room as gravity reasserted itself, causing her helmet to finally shatter all the way when she hit the floor. This also allowed her to take that first gasping breath, since she might not have had the strength to remove the helmet on her own, and she coughed hoarsely while the sequence was completed.

"Hello?" She coughed while trying to get out of the suit. "Hello, can anyone hear me?"

" _Ripley?_ " Waits' voice asked in disbelief. " _Oh, my God, is that you?_ "

Under any other circumstances, she would not have wanted to ever hear that man's voice again, being that he was the one who used her as bait and left her to die, but right now it meant that she really _had_ done it. She had defeated the creature and escaped certain death… which right now for some reason was less difficult than getting out of this God damn suit.

"Yes, _you son of a bitch_ , it's me." She spat while kicking the suit off. "How could you do that to me, Waits, _how_?! You locked me in with that monster… you intentionally sent me to my death!"

" _And it worked, Ripley, it God damned worked_." The Marshal continued. " _We got it; blasted that thing into the gas giant, the station is safe_."

Coughing again as she got up to her hands and knees, it took Ripley a few seconds for her head to stop spinning enough for her to pull herself to her feet, using this airlock's suit locker. Her chest hurt from being stomped, as did her ankle from being grabbed, and pretty much her entire body for many, _many_ other reasons, meaning that she was in no mood to listen to anything that he had to say.

"There's that." She replied, leaning on the suit locker. "And there's the fact that you're a _heartless bastard_ … I'm heading back to the Bureau… we can discuss your _methods_ there… Ripley out."

Still trying to catch her breath, Ripley exited the airlock, once again finding herself inside of a dark and silent corridor. There were a couple of emergency lights, some of which flickered on and off, leaving most of the area in total darkness, and now she didn't have the flamethrower to light the way… nor did she have the maintenance jack, which felt kind of weird after carrying it around for so long, and now all she had left was the access tuner. Of course, now that she was safe from the creature, there was one question that burned into her mind.

"Where in the hell am I?" She asked herself while looking around.


	16. Chapter 16 Threat Level Omega

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Sixteen: Threat Level Omega**

The emergency lights allowed her to see the outlines of some of the things in the corridor, but not enough to keep her from clumsily tripping over the others, so Ripley moved against the wall, keeping her hand running along it in case she tripped again, while taking a little extra time with each step. She kept forgetting that the creature was gone, and that now she didn't have to carefully watch the vents, but the last thing she wanted to do after defeating the creature, was to break her neck falling into a hole like when she had first arrived.

The space-walk between the Torrens and Sevastopol seemed like such a long time ago, given what she had managed to survive through since then, but even though she had continually come out on top, Ripley still had not found what she came all the way out there for. The Nostromo's flight recorder had been empty, and Marlow claimed that he had never found the ship itself, so now it was starting to look like she would never find out what happened to her mother.

" _I'm glad you made it back, Ripley_." Ricardo's voice said, jarring her from her thoughts. " _You aren't hurt or anything, are you_?"

"No, I'm fine, Ricardo." She replied, nearly tripping over something again. "No thanks to _Waits_ , that is. Hey, I'm not sure where I am; might need some help finding my way back to the Bureau… hold on, there's a sign… it says: _Solomon's Galleria_. _Please_ tell me that I'm somewhere close."

Hopefully this place was at least in the same tower as her destination, since after everything that happened, she was really not in the mood for another long trip. Continuing down the corridor during their conversation, Ripley noticed that there were a few more emergency lights on, allowing her to see enough to not need to hug the wall so much.

" _Yeah, Waits is a ruthless bastard, always has been_." Ricardo continued. " _I'm so sorry all this happened, and I promise you that if he ever listened to me, it wouldn't have gone this far. But hey, you're in luck; Solomon's Galleria is actually just down the corridor from the Bureau. The place is pretty big, but just follow the signs, and I'll see you soon_."

It was comforting to know that there was a good man like Ricardo watching her back, instead of having to just rely on an asshole like Waits. Of course, if she had the choice, Ripley would have preferred to have Samuels there, and that made her wonder about him. Waits had sent him to a place called Android Processing in an attempt to access the station's Apollo computer, and she hadn't heard from him since. Sure, he was a big, tough Synthetic who could take care of himself, but given the track-record of Waits' plans… she was really starting to worry about him.

And Taylor as well, come to think of it. As the area around her became better and better illuminated, Ripley remembered that the last time she had seen the Weyland-Yutani Executive, was after finding the trauma kit for her in San Christobal. She would be sure to check on both of them once she got back to the Marshal's Bureau, but now she had to focus on getting there, since now the corridor was ending at the entrance to a big open area. All of the lights were on, allowing her to see that two levels of what looked like small shops and restaurants, most of them with shutters down over the doors.

This must've been Solomon's Galleria, judging by the layout, as well as the large painted sign above the second level that read: SOLOMON'S GALLERIA. Now all she had to do was continue on to the Marshal's Bureau, but to do that she would need to find a directory sign, being that this place was huge, with many exit points. Passing through the entrance, and starting to walk across the upper level, she was so focused on finding the directory sign, that she nearly didn't notice when a figure stepped out of the shadows in front of her.

"Who are you?" He demanded, aiming a pistol at her. "How the hell did you even get in here? Hey, everyone, we got an intruder!"

Ripley started to protest, but stopped, and her mouth ran dry as more people started coming out of the shadows. They exited the few opened shops, came up from the bottom level, and all of them were armed as they surrounded her. Spinning around to see if there was any possible way to escape, she was then confronted by a big man who wielded a shotgun, and she could only hope that this group wasn't crazy like the others she had met.

"An intruder, huh?" He said looking her up and down. "Probably a _thief_ , come to steal our supplies. Get on your knees, _thief_ , and put your hands behind your head."

"I'm not a thief." She argued. "Look, I'm having a really, _really_ bad day, and I _promise_ you that I'm not looking for trouble; I just need to get back to…

Her words became a groan of agony when he suddenly turned the shotgun around and rammed the stock into her stomach, making Ripley stumble backwards into the guardrail before collapsing to her hands and knees. The man then grabbed her by the hair, making her cry out as he yanked her up to her knees, before pressing the shotgun's barrel up under her jaw.

"What you _need_ is to talk only when I tell you." He continued. "Okay now, _thief_ … you're going to _quickly_ tell me how many of you are here, and who sent you, or else I'm gonna blow a fist-size hole right through your pretty little head, do you understand me?"

"I understand." She quickly replied. "I understand, just please don't shoot me, all right? My name is Amanda Ripley, and…

"Hey, look at this." Another man said, looking away from the group. "What the hell are _they_ doing here?"

Keeping his grip on Ripley, the big man joined everyone else in looking down the corridor to see that several Working Joes were entering the galleria. This in itself wasn't normal, since service Androids like them were never allowed in public areas on any of the stations that she had been on before, but after seeing what these things were capable of before, hardly anything about them seemed normal.

"Hello." The nearest one said as they approached. "By order of Apollo, the hazard threat level has been raised to… _Omega_. We are experiencing a heightened hazard level today… come with me, please."

"Hey, hey, you guys aren't allowed in here." Another of the group said to them. "You have…

He was interrupted as the Working Joe grabbed him by the throat, making him drop his pistol as the Android started to strangle him, but then the first shots rang out as the armed men retaliated. White blood sprayed out of their bodies as the first three Androids were gunned down, along with the man who was being strangled, but there were more coming. The men reloaded and continued to shoot at them, but then more Working Joes appeared from behind, quickly grabbing and subduing the men that they reached first.

"This is a safety breech, and will not be tolerated." One of them said while tossing a man into the wall. "It seems you and I have a problem."

A few more of the Androids fell, but it took a lot of bullets to do so, and the men were quickly overwhelmed until only the big man was left between them and Ripley. He fired his shotgun into another one's head, making it collapse, but then his weapon _clicked_ empty, and the Working Joe grabbed him. He tried to overpower it, but failed, and then the Android punched him in the face hard enough to send him reeling backwards; taking Ripley with him as he fell over the guardrail.

The big man broke her fall, but he had landed on his neck with a loud _crunch_ , and was no longer moving. Thankfully they had landed in a semi-hidden area behind the staircase on the lower lever, so Ripley scooted back into the shadows as the battle between the armed men and the Working Joes continued.

"Waits, what the _hell_ is going on with the Androids?" She whispered into the radio. "Apollo's let them off the damn leash; they're killing on sight."

" _I don't know, Ripley, I don't know_." The Marshal's voice replied. " _They aren't just responding to trespass violations anymore, it's like… it's like they're hunting. I've been trying to reach Samuels; see if he can figure out what the hell Apollo's playing at, but…_

The Marshal's words became an outcry of surprise, and in the background Ripley could hear what sounded like screams. Then there was more gunfire, not in the galleria, but on the radio… gunfire that slowly stopped until all she could hear was what sounded like someone being choked.

" _You are becoming hysterical_." A Working Joe's voice said as the choking got fainter. " _Hold still._ "

Then there was silence over the radio, and Ripley became even more frightened when she realized that the galleria had fallen silent as well. There were no more gunshots or screams to be heard, and when she peeked out, she saw that a few of the Androids were still walking around… likely looking for any survivors. This meant that they would find her eventually if she stayed where she was, but she needed something to defend herself with, and that was when she noticed that the man's shotgun had fallen in there with them.

Quietly picking up the weapon that had once been used to threaten her, she was about to try sneaking away, when she remembered that it was empty. Ripley did not enjoy having to rummage through the dead man's pockets, but it was better than being defenseless against the Working Joes, and she managed to find eight of them; just enough to completely load the weapon once.

"With Seegson, there is someone behind you every step of the way." One of the Androids said, making her jump a little as it walked down the stairs. "Seegson and Working Joes; working together for a safer, better connected Sevastopol."

Thankfully, it didn't stop her as it reached the bottom of the stairs and continued on its way toward one of the open shop doors, giving Ripley a chance to get away once it vanished inside. Slowly coming out of hiding, she tried to stick to the shadows and make as little noise as possible, while looking for a directory sign. She found it quickly, but was disappointed when it said that she would have to go all the way across the galleria in order to get to the Marshal Bureau.

Two gunshots came from inside the shop where the Working Joe had gone into, and then there was silence, motivating Ripley to get moving, since at this rate, she would soon be the only thing left for the Androids to hunt.


	17. Chapter 17 Return to the Bureau

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Seventeen: Return to the Bureau**

Every once in a while a gunshot or a quickly cut-off scream would ring out as Ripley made her way across the galleria, and although she now had the shotgun to protect herself, there was no way that she was going to take any more unnecessary risks than she already had. This decision became increasingly difficult each time that someone would scream or call for help, but then again these were the same people who had put her on her knees and held a gun to her head, a memory that helped her keep going without looking back.

Before coming to Sevastopol, Ripley would never have hesitated to try and help someone who was in trouble, no matter what she thought of them, but that was before Burke had beaten and choked her with a maintenance jack, and Waits had left her in that module to die with the creature. Now, if Samuels, or Ricardo, or even Taylor were in trouble, that would be a different story, but not these lunatics who inhabited what was left of this God damn station.

"Running causes accidents." A Working Joe said from the upper level. "Please, do not run."

There was still nothing but silence on the radio, and now even more Working Joes could be seen entering the galleria, or maybe just passing through, making her wonder just how many of those things there were on Sevastopol. It was getting to the point where it was hard to keep hiding whenever one would pass by, so she decided to duck into the door of the first open shop that she came to, which happened to be an old-style bunkhouse.

There was a small reception desk at the front, which Ripley quickly ducked down behind in order to make sure that she hadn't been spotted. Waiting there for a few seconds, and then peeking out to make sure that she wasn't being followed, she stayed down until getting behind the next wall, into the back where all of the sleeping pods were double stacked along the walls. She had wanted to close the bunk house's front door, but feared that it would have attracted attention, and now she needed to keep moving.

Seeing all of these empty beds there, it made her realize just how tired she was, being that aside from a short bout of unconsciousness, she had not slept since arriving on Sevastopol, but this was _certainly_ not the time or the place for that. The plan when she came in was to find the service door that all shops like this had, and use it to get into the maintenance area, where hopefully she was less likely to be spotted. As she had hoped, the service door was in plain sight, but it was locked, so it was a good thing that she had somehow managed not to break or lose the access tuner yet.

This wasn't a security door or an executive elevator, so the signal only took a couple seconds to lock onto before the door's indicator light turned green. So she put the device back onto her belt, and pulled the lever to open the door, sliding it open just in time for a Working Joe to pass by on the other side.

"You really shouldn't be here." It said, turning toward her. "This could require my attention."

Ripley froze the moment she had seen the Android, but by the time she could move again, its hands were wrapping around her throat. Its grip was incredibly strong, enough so that her breathing was stopped before she could even cry out, but not quite enough to make her drop the shotgun. Cocking the weapon, and aiming it as best she could given the circumstances, Ripley pulled the trigger, causing a loud _bang_ as the grip was released from her throat.

She gasped for breath as the Android stumbled backwards; white blood spraying out from the hole in its stomach as if fell against a nearby guardrail, but it didn't fall down. It appeared to be stunned and maybe disoriented for a moment, but then the Working Joe seemed to forget all about its stomach wound as it stood back up.

"You are starting to test my patience." It said as she cocked the weapon again. "I'm going to catch…

There was another _bang_ as Ripley pulled the trigger, causing more white blood to spray out as it was struck in the neck and chest, but this time the Android gurgled as fell onto its back. It flailed around as if having a seizure for a few seconds as the light faded from its eyes, and then it was still, allowing Ripley to sigh with relief… until she heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind as two more Working Joes entered the bunk house.

"Oh, shit." She whispered before starting to run down the maintenance corridor.

"This is futile." One of them called after her. "I'm going to catch you."

The Working Joes were strong, but they didn't appear to be able to move any faster than a quick walk, which was good because the exit was probably locked as well. So she ran as quickly as she could, putting as much distance between herself and them as possible until Ripley reached the end of the corridor… only to find that there was no exit. She had passed a whole bunch of side doors on the way, but of each of them led into one of the galleria's locked shops, which would only have cornered her further. Of course, now she was trapped, and back down the corridor she could see the Androids' glowing eyes slowly getting closer.

"Shit." She whispered while looking around. "Shit, shit, shit, shit."

Starting to panic as the Working Joes continued to close in, Ripley was trying to figure out how to do the most damage to them with her remaining six shells, when she spotted a faint green light coming from under a tarp on the floor. Taking a second to kick it to the side, she gasped as she found that it was actually the green indicator light of an unlocked floor access panel. It slid open the moment that she touched it, and Ripley wasted no time in crawling down into the vents.

Not wanting to risk the chance of the Androids following her in, she started crawling through the shaft, no longer sure that she was going the right way. At least this time she didn't have to deal with the possibility of the creature already being in there waiting for her, so Ripley just continued crawling for what felt like forever, going around several twists and turns until finally arriving at another access panel. This one _was_ locked, however, so she used the access tuner on the lock, and was a little worried about where she would end up as she crawled out.

She hadn't gone up or down, so at least she could be certain that she was on the same deck, although _where_ on that deck was another matter, since she had long abandoned her sense of direction during all of the turns in the vents. However, Ripley was pleasantly surprised when she crawled out into a room that looked kind of familiar. There were two hospital beds, as well as a life support unit between them, but it was not until she saw the poster on the wall that she realized that this was the room where she had woken up after the explosion at San Christobal.

That meant that she was back inside the Marshal's Bureau, which gave her a feeling of immense relief… but where was Taylor? The bed that she had been occupying they started the plan to trap the creature was now empty, maybe meaning that she had recovered, but Ripley didn't imagine a pencil-pusher like her being able to last long once the Androids started going crazy. Taking a quick look through the door's window, she couldn't see anyone in the main room… but she _could_ see an open cell door across the way.

Waiting a couple more seconds to see if there were any Androids wandering around, she opened the door, and headed past the desks to the now empty cell that had been recently been occupied by Captain Marlow. Well, that was just great, since he was the only one who could have told her _anything_ else about what happened to her mother, but maybe he was still there. The Marshals were well armed, and a _hell_ of a lot better organized than those lunatics in the galleria, so there had to be some survivors.

There were certainly bodies, though. Only a couple in the room she was in, but _a lot_ more scattered about when she entered the reception office. Humans and Androids alike were lying in pools of red and white blood on the floor, including Marshal Waits, whose head had been twisted completely around. The smell was nearly enough to make her vomit, although this urge was resisted, but she didn't see Taylor or Marlow among the bodies.

"Hello?" She risked calling out, since no one was in sight. "Hello, is anyone still alive in here?"

Something moved behind her, so Ripley spun around while cocking the shotgun, but it was not a Working Joe that she saw. Instead, it was a human head peeking out from behind the reception desk; a head that belonged to Ricardo. Sighing with relief as she lowered the weapon, Ripley was happy that at least _someone_ that she knew had survived, although the Deputy seemed really shaken up as he crawled out of hiding.

"Ripley… Ripley, they're all dead. He said sadly while getting up. "The Working Joes came in, and they just… they just _slaughtered_ them. But why… why the fuck would they do this? Androids aren't allowed to hurt Humans, Ripley, that's like, the first thing that gets put into their brains when they're built."

"Ricardo, I need you to calm down." She replied, on the verge of panicking herself as she put her hand on his shoulder. "What happened to Taylor and Marlow?"

She was hoping for a clear explanation, but all the Deputy could tell her was that he wasn't sure, although he might have seen the two of them running away during all the chaos. That would mean that Taylor let Marlow out of his cell, but again Ricardo wasn't sure. He had been too busy trying to fight off the Androids to worry about anything else except for hiding once he ran out of bullets. Well, at least this meant that there was a chance that they might have gotten clear, but right now something had to be done about the Working Joes.

"I have to find Samuels." She said, looking at the ammo that had been dropped on the floor. "Waits sent him to access Apollo in Android Processing… if I go after him, can you run this place? I need eyes and ears if I'm going to make it, Ricardo… Ricardo!"

"I'm not fucking staying here." He argued while she picked up shells. "I just hid, Ripley… I just hid while everyone else got torn apart."

Ripley tried to comfort him and be supportive during and after she had filled her pockets with shotgun shells, but that wasn't working, so she took a more direct approach by slapping him.

"Ricardo, I _need_ you!" She yelled, grabbing him by the jacket. "Now, I am going to find Samuels, and if you do not cover me, I am going to _die_! So you're gonna man the fucking station, lock the fucking door, and don't let anyone in who isn't _me_ , got it?!"

"Yes, Ma'am." The Deputy quickly replied. "You can count on me, Ripley."

Now that this had been settled, the last thing she needed was for him to tell her how to get to Android Processing. The elevator that would take her there was the same one that she had used to get to the Server Farm, so it was just outside the Bureau's front door, but she was also feeling bad about yelling at Ricardo, so she turned back and gave him a hug.

"I need you to stay strong, okay?" She asked. "We're almost out of this, and once me and Samuels figure out how to fix… whatever the _hell_ Apollo's problem is, this will all be over."

With that, she turned and walked out the front door, wasting no time in heading toward the nearby elevator that would take her up to Android Processing, and _hopefully_ Samuels was still all right.


	18. Chapter 18 Seegson Synthetics

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Eighteen: Seegson Synthetics**

The elevator ride lasted a bit longer than she had expected, meaning that Ripley was being taken almost all the way down to the bottom of Sevastopol station. This made since, being that the Apollo computer that controlled, well, everything, would need to be located near the reactor core of the station in order to stay online no matter what happened. However, the elevator could only go as far as the entrance to a place called _Seegson Synthetics_ , and it was through there that she could get to Android Processing… where Samuels had gone.

" _Okay, I'm reading your arrival_." Ricardo's voice said through the radio as the elevator stopped. " _I'm showing recent activity and computer access logs; probably Samuels making his way toward… but that doesn't make sense. Apollo's core is located on the lower levels, and I'm only showing activity toward the top… am I reading something wrong? Ripley… I'm not sure I can do this_."

"Ricardo, I know you're scared… so am I." She replied as the doors opened. "But right now I need you to focus on what we're doing, okay? Waits is gone… _you're_ the Marshal now."

The first thing she saw was a big _SEEGSON_ logo on the wall above the room's reception desk, but hey, at least the lights were on inside this area of the station. There was also a directory sign on the wall, and she was walking toward it, when Ripley gasped as she saw that someone was sitting in the chair behind the desk. Obviously the person was dead, but the strange thing was that their head was tilted all the way back, and there was… what looked like a rolled up magazine… showed halfway down their throat.

" _I'm the Marshal_?" Ricardo finally continued as she stared at the body. " _The Marshal of what, a room full of dead people? Ripley, do you realize how fucked up this is_?"

"I have a pretty good idea." She replied, turning away from the body. "But if Samuels can talk to Apollo, he can tell it to have the Androids stand down… and then this will all be over… now how do I get to him?"

According to Ricardo, there was a service elevator nearby that would take her up, and she found it after going behind the desk and around the corner. It was locked, but this was nothing that her access tuner couldn't handle, so a few seconds later she was inside, but nothing happened when she pressed the button.

"What's going on with the elevator?" Ripley asked, pushing the button again. "There's power, but it won't start up."

" _Hold on, let me see_." Ricardo replied. " _There's some kind of security alert firing off in the nearby labs… elevators are temporarily locked down. Looks like the Working Joes aren't taking too kindly to a Weyland-Yutani model poking around. Let's see… you'll have to go all the way across Seegson Synthetics to get to an elevator that's outside the lockdown… unless you want to climb up the shaft, that is._ "

On any other day, she would have taken the long route, but with the Working Joes hunting down survivors, climbing up an elevator shaft actually seemed easier. Ricardo repeatedly assured her that he was joking when he suggested it, but Ripley's mind was already made up when she opened the small hatch on the ceiling. Jumping up and grabbing the edge, it took a little more effort to pull herself up than she cared to admit, nor would she ever tell _anyone_ that she fell back down to the floor on her first attempt.

The _second_ attempt, however, worked; Ripley pulled herself up onto the roof of the elevator, and once she had located the service ladder, began climbing up toward the upper levels of Seegson Synthetics. There were other elevators stopped on various levels, but the indicator lights on all of them were red, and it would have done her no good to climb onto one, since they would not help her get up any higher.

"Ricardo, tell me I'm getting close." She said.

" _I could, Ripley, but I'd be lying_." He replied. " _Sevastopol's a big place… but you're getting there, if that helps_."

Having moved all over the station with elevators, this was one of those times where she only realized how much she appreciated them once they were no longer available, because this climb was seeming to take _forever_. Finally the top of the shaft was in sight, but there was no elevator there for Ripley to climb into in order to access the door. The maintenance jack had been lost back in the Server Hub as well, meaning that she wouldn't have been able to pry the door open, even if she somehow _could_ reach it.

There was, however, a maintenance hatch on the wall next to it, and it was unlocked, allowing her to climb into the vent once the circular cover slid open. This shaft apparently ran near the floor, since she could see that and not much else through the small air vents that appeared every so often, but then she heard something up ahead.

"I _must_ have access to Apollo." Samuels' voice said, getting louder as she moved toward it. "Open the access elevator immediately."

"Apollo access is reserved to Seegson personnel." A Working Joe's voice replied. "Executives, administrator-level maintenance, and Synthetics only."

Coming up to the last vent before the shaft took a sharp turn, Ripley looked through it to see that Samuels was standing there. She was incredibly relieved that he was all right, but he was talking with one of the Working Joes, and that made her tense up. It was already known that the Androids were attacking Humans, but were outside Synthetics like him included in that order?

"Biohazard Containment Level _Omega_ is in effect." The Android continued. "All outside permissions rescinded by order of Apollo."

"Great, I'm glad we had this conversation." Samuels replied, shaking his head as he turned away. "I'll just have to find _my own_ way to talk to Apollo, then."

He started to leave, but the Android grabbed his forearm, making Ripley gasp since she knew just how strong those things were. What she _didn't_ know, however, was how strong _Samuels_ was, and it was just as big of a shock for her when he grabbed the Working Joe and bashed its head down on a nearby table. The Android grabbed at him again, and he responded by tossing it into the wall as easily as she had once seen a Working Joe toss a Human, but this time it was the Android that fell to the floor.

"I really don't have time for this." Samuels said, standing over it. "Now, if you're smart, you'll stay down."

But apparently the Android _wasn't_ smart. It started to get up while saying its usual speech about forbidden activity, but the words were stopped when Samuels punched it in the side of the head hard enough to make white blood spray out. Again, and again he pummeled the Working Joe's head until it was almost completely caved in, and Samuels wiped some of the white blood off of himself before starting to walk away. Ripley's first thought was to cheer him on for destroying one of those fucking things the same way they had been killing people, but her second thought was that he was about to walk out of sight, and that she needed to let him know that she was there.

"Samuels, wait!" She called, putting her mouth up to the grate. "Samuels, its Ripley… I'm in the vent!"

"What?" The Synthetic asked as he came back and knelt down where he could see her. "Ripley? It isn't safe up here… what are you even _doing_ in there?"

It was a long story, but she gave him the short version, while trying not to forget anything. He seemed pleased that they had been able to kill the creature, although not so much with the circumstances, and he already knew that the Working Joes were killing people, so all that was left was to tell him about Taylor and Marlow's disappearance.

"This doesn't bode well, Ripley." Samuels said once she had finished. "But before we can even _think_ of trying to find Taylor, something needs to be done about Apollo. I have a sort of, um… radical idea, but I'm going to need your help. Can you see any maintenance hatches from in there?"

She couldn't, and he didn't have the strength to open a hole in the metal framework, so the only option was for her to keep going until she could find a way out. The shaft turned away from the room he was in, and went right through a wall, meaning that they would have to split up and try to find a way around to each other. So they parted ways, and Ripley once again found herself crawling around several twists and turns before an exit presented itself.

The small room that it opened to appeared to be empty, so she crawled out, and immediately readied the shotgun in case there were any Working Joes around. There was nothing in this room except for what looked like some spare parts, and of course she looked through them in case there was anything she could use, but there wasn't. The only door slid open when she approached, and she could only describe the room beyond as _where Androids go to die_.

It was sort of like a hospital, with beds along the wall, and monitoring equipment between each one. But it was also like a laboratory, being that all of the patients on the beds were Androids. Their eyes weren't glowing, meaning that they had likely been powered down for monthly service checks or something, but Ripley was still cautious as she walked in. There were no other doors besides the one on the far end of the room, and going back would be pointless, so she tried not to bump into anything while walking across.

" _You are my lucky star_." She silently mouthed as one of her mother's songs popped into her head. " _You are my lucky, lucky star_."

Now she was halfway across the room, and it was starting to look like Ripley would get through this place without incident, when the far door slid open. Her eyes widened, and she smiled since it could only be Samuels that was coming in… but it wasn't… he didn't have glowing eyes.

"What are you doing here?" The Working Joe asked once it spotted her. "This could require my attention."

Her first instinct was to run, but then Ripley remembered that she had the shotgun, and she cocked it angrily once she realized that the Android was alone. Aiming the weapon as it approached, the Android didn't react to it at all, at least, not until she pulled the trigger when it got close. White blood splashed out as the left side of its head was blown apart, and when the Working Joe fell to the floor, she stood over it and fired one more shell into its chest, stopping its convulsions.

"Firearms are dangerous." Another Android voice said from behind. "You will hurt yourself."

Spinning around and cocking the shotgun, Ripley stopped when she saw that one of the Working Joes on the beds was sitting up. In fact, _all_ of them now had glowing eyes as they sat up, and she found herself quickly surrounded when they all got out of bed in unison.

"Oh… fuck." She whispered as they all turned to look at her.


	19. Chapter 19 Samuels' Plan

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Nineteen: Samuels' Plan**

"You really shouldn't be here." One of the Working Joes said as the group started toward her. "Follow me, please."

Aiming the shotgun and pulling the trigger, Ripley's response came in the form of a loud _bang_ that echoed through the room just as the Android was starting to reach for her. The shell tore through its chest, sending it reeling backwards as more of that white blood spilled onto the floor, but even though this one was damaged, there were still four more to deal with. So she cocked the weapon and fired again, finishing off that one so that it could no longer help the others, but when she turned to aim at the next one, it grabbed the barrel.

"I hope that weapon is registered." It said, grabbing with the other hand as she cocked it. "Why not ask me about Sevastopol safety…

It was trying to pull the weapon upward in order to get it away from her, but this action allowed Ripley to pull the trigger at the same time that the end of the barrel passed under the Android's chin. This caused another _bang_ to echo through the room as most of its head was blown apart. That was two down, but the third one managed to grab the weapon and turn it so that she could neither cock it nor fire the weapon while they struggled. Ripley tried to regain control of it by bracing one arm with the other in an effort to overpower the Android, but was stopped when the Working Joe let go of the weapon with one hand in order to pull back and punch her in the forehead with the other.

The force of the blow caused her vision to go white for a second, while the rest of her was knocked off her feet so that she fell into the wall and sunk down into the corner. Ripley's vision was just coming back into focus, when the nearest Working Joe grabbed her by the front of the jumpsuit, before pulling her to her feet, and effortlessly tossing her toward the beds where the Androids had been awaiting maintenance. She landed on the first bed, only to slide across it and fall to the floor between it and the next bed, and although still dazed from the punch, she knew that she had to get out of there.

"I just want to help you." One of the Androids said as they started toward her again. "Let me help you."

Turning away and crawling underneath the next bed, Ripley kept on crawling when she realized that her only hope for survival was to reach the door, the bottom of which she could see beyond the very last bed. So she crawled as quickly as she could, passing underneath the next bed, and the next one while the Android's continued their pursuit, and she was just getting under the one after that, when a powerful hand was felt clamping down on her ankle. Not only did this stop her from crawling any further, but then she gasped as she was pulled backwards.

"There is no need for this." It said as she was taken out from under the bed. "Please, calm down."

She kicked at the Android, hitting it in the face with her feet as hard as she could, but this did nothing to stop it from grabbing her by the jumpsuit and pulling her to her feet. There was no possible way to get a hold of the shotgun, which was lying at the far end of the room, so she punched and pushed the Android in an attempt to get away. This attempt was quickly stopped, however, when the Working Joe locked its hands around her throat, squeezing hard enough to stop her from breathing as it forced her to bend backwards until she was pinned onto the nearest bed.

"You are becoming hysterical." It said as its grip tightened. "Hush now."

Ripley flailed her arms, hitting the Android and hopelessly trying to break its grip while gasping for air. Soon her lungs were burning, and she was beginning to get tunnel vision as her arms got weaker, but still the Working Joe didn't let up. Tears started to run down her cheeks as her arms fell onto the bed, and as the world around her grew darker, she began to see memories from the past. Most of them involved early childhood with her mother, and then how she had joined the company as a deep space engineer in the hope of finding some trace of her.

Most importantly, Ripley saw how much she didn't want to die on this station. She was only twenty-six years old, and there was so much that she still wanted to do with her life, but now as the red light in the Working Joe's eyes was the only thing she could see… it appeared that all of her future plans were about to be cut short while she made one last attempt to get air.

"Get your hands off her!" A voice suddenly yelled.

Ripley could feel that death was about to take her, but then there was movement in the room, before something collided with the Android. Just like that the Working Joe's grip was released from her throat, allowing her to gasp so intensely that it was almost a scream, and as her vision started to clear, Ripley saw that there was someone else in the room. Someone who was now struggling with the Androids… or more accurately… _they_ were struggling with _him_.

It was Samuels; bashing the Android's head into the wall, before grabbing it and tossing it into the others. All of the remaining Working Joes collapsed to the floor while the _clearly_ superior Weyland-Yutani model picked up the fallen shotgun, and after the sound of _bang_ … _bang_ … _bang_ … the fight was over. The Working Joes lay in a puddle of their own white blood, and now Samuels was coming toward her. Ripley wanted to thank him, but found herself only able to gasp and cough as he scooped her up into his arms.

Did it make her feel a little insecure to be carried out of the room like some kind of a _damsel in distress_? Sure… but given that the alternative was to be choked to death by a Working Joe, Ripley was sure that she could find some way to live with it. Besides, it was nice to see one of the men being brave for once, since she had been getting used to them hiding while she did all the work… like Waits and Ricardo were so fond of doing. So she took this opportunity to rest for a moment, until they reached a large room where he set her down on what looked like another maintenance bed.

"I'm so glad that I got to you in time." He said, hitting the override button to seal the door. "Are you all right, Ripley?"

She tried to reply, but her words came out as more coughing and gasping to the point that all she could do was give him a great big hug and sort of whisper the words _thank you_ once he returned to her. Breathing and speaking gradually became easier over the next few minutes, especially since Samuels managed to find a bottle of water for her, and this gave her some time to take in her surroundings. It was some kind of laboratory that he had brought her to, with several switching stations along the walls like the ones she had used to cage the creature.

The only other feature inside the room, aside from all of the monitoring equipment, was a large device in the very center that looked sort of like the imaging chambers that could be found in the medical bay of any ship. Only this one looked different… larger and scarier, and without padding on the table, as if it had been made for Synthetics… and during her recovery, Samuels had been doing some kind of repair work on it.

"What is this place?" Ripley asked with an improved voice. "Some kind of diagnostic station?"

"Sort of." Samuels replied while hooking up a high-capacity cable to the switching stations. "It's the backup _Reformat Chamber_ for the station, which also contains a maintenance access elevator to Apollo's core… unfortunately, the A.I.'s security network has been configured so that only _Seegson_ Synthetics can interface."

The Synthetic then began to lay out a plan that was… ridiculous _at best_ ; Samuels had been using the lab's switching stations to reroute power to the reformatting chamber, and now he was going to use it on _himself_. Weyland-Yutani had dozens of safeguards installed into their Synthetics to prevent them from ever being reprogrammed by a third-party, but in using the chamber to connect with Apollo's systems, his hope was that it would be enough to _trick_ the A.I. into allowing him access to the elevator.

"That's a _terrible_ idea!" Ripley exclaimed once he was finished. "No, you can't, its _way_ to dangerous!"

" _Of course_ , it's too dangerous." Samuels replied as he approached the now active machine. "In fact, this is probably the _worst_ idea I've ever had… wish me luck."

Oh no, not only was she _not_ about to wish him luck, but Ripley was about to do everything in her power to stop him from going through with it. Jumping down from the maintenance bed, she ran around in front of him, and halted his advance by putting her hands on his chest.

"No, you can't!" She yelled. "Samuels… this could _kill_ you!"

"And the Working Joes are _already_ killing others." He calmly replied. "Something is wrong with Apollo; maybe it's not receiving the stand-down command, or maybe some of its mother-boards were damaged during everything that's happened. But regardless of _why_ , more and more Humans are being hunted down and killed, and Apollo is the only one that can stop them."

There was no physical way for Ripley to stop him as he walked around her in order to continue on toward the machine, but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to try. So she repeatedly blocked his path while using all of the logic and pleading that she could in order to make him give up this awful idea, but eventually Samuels just picked her up again. This time he threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and carried her back over to the maintenance bed, where he sat her down.

"Ripley, I know you're scared." He said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm scared, too, but this is the only way. If you have another idea, I'll _gladly_ consider it, but there are _hundreds_ of Working Joes on this station, and how long do you think Sevastopol's survivors will last against them?"

She tried to think of a usable alternative to the reformatting chamber, but nothing came to mind, and unless she wanted to _shoot_ Samuels, there really was no way that Ripley could stop him. He reassured her that even though it was dangerous, it was just as likely that the sequence would run just fine. Then they could take the elevator down to Apollo's core, and put an end to this madness once and for all.

"Good luck." Was all she was able to say as he started toward the machine.


	20. Chapter 20 Sacrifice

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty: Sacrifice**

Trying not to worry as Samuels climbed onto the reformat chamber, Ripley tried to focus on the positive things about this instead. If it worked, Apollo would allow them access to the A.I. core, and then the Working Joes could be stopped before they killed every last person on the Sevastopol. If it didn't work, however… well, hopefully it would, since the alternative was not pleasant to think about as the Synthetic laid down on the machine's table and pressed the startup button.

" _Warning: Apollo connection initiating_." An automated voice said as he was moved into the chamber. " _Apollo connection established… now beginning Seegson Reformat Sequence Phase I… failed… attempting to begin Seegson Reformat Sequence Phase I… failed_."

"I must not be compatible with Seegson software." Samuels said as the scanning beams continued to pass over him. "But I _am_ connected to Apollo, so I'll try another approach… Apollo, the bio-infection has been purged; the creature is no longer onboard the station. Request that all hazard containment operations are suspended immediately."

For a moment there was silence, aside from the beams inside the machine continuing to scan Samuels, and maybe this was a good thing if Apollo was taking time to rerun its scans of the station or something. Yes, this had to be good, Ripley thought as the seconds passed by, and surely once the station's A.I. realized that the creature was gone, it would stand down without further incident. But then she jumped when an alarm started going off, and all of the lights in the room turned red as electricity began to flow through the reformat chamber, making Samuels scream.

"Ripley, Apollo's rejecting me!" The Synthetic yelled in a pained voice as he tried to pull himself out of the chamber. "I can't get out… shut off the machine, hurry!"

"Hold on, Samuels!" Ripley exclaimed as she jumped off the maintenance bed. "I'm coming!"

She ran over to the machine and pushed the emergency stop button on the controls, but aside from her receiving a shock that made her arm numb for a second, nothing happened. The electricity must've shorted out the controls, as far as she could figure, which meant that the only way for her to get Samuels out of the chamber was to manually cut off power to it. This would be easy, since the loss of even one of the switching stations that he had rigged up should result in the machine stopping, but then Ripley realized that it wouldn't be so easy since it required a tool like the maintenance jack… and she had lost hers back at the Server Hub.

"Ripley, help!" Samuels yelled as the electricity kept flowing. "You've got to shut off the machine!"

"I'm trying, damn it!" She screamed, trying not to panic while looking around for a solution. "Try to hold on!"

There was absolutely nothing inside of the room that would help her, and Samuels was brought closer to termination with every second that she wasted doing nothing. But what _could_ she do? There were no tools or rewire switches around… in fact, the only thing around that Ripley could see was the shotgun. A dangerous idea suddenly popped into her head, and it was risky, but a risky plan was better than no plan in this situation, so she went back to the maintenance bed and picked up the shotgun.

The weapon was empty from the recent encounter with the Working Joes, and Ripley was so nervous and scared for Samuels that she almost couldn't get her hands to stay still enough to load the shells. Once they were finally loaded, she walked up to the switching station, cocked the weapon while aiming, and a resounding bang echoed through the room when she pulled the trigger. Sparks flew as part of the metal casing was shredded by the shell, but the switching station was still active, so she cocked it and fired again… and again… and again until the power finally stopped flowing.

Silence quickly filled the room as the reformat chamber lost power, and it allowed Samuels to finally pull himself out, but then he coughed up some white blood before falling forward onto Ripley. She caught him, but the Synthetic weighed a lot more than he looked, so she was forced to sink down until they were both kneeling on the floor. He made an attempt to sit up on his own, but coughed up more white blood that splattered across Ripley's face as he fell onto her again.

"I've really screwed up this time, Ripley." He said weakly as she held him. "I don't think I can go with you any farther."

"No." Ripley replied, realizing what he meant. "No, no, no, no, Samuels, no… please don't die."

Samuels started to say something, but instead only a choking sound came out as more and more of his white blood was splashed onto her jumpsuit. She wished that there was something she could do for him, but Ripley didn't know _anything_ about building or repairing Synthetics, and this helplessness was one of the many factors that caused her to silently cry.

"You talk like I've had… an actual life." He continued, slightly weaker. "Thank you for that… but all is not lost. During the connection, I was able to… open the elevator to Apollo. Now you can stop it, Ripley… you can stop the Working Joes… and live to find your mother. I just wanted… Amanda Ripley to have… closure… so that you can be… happy."

"You did that for me?" She asked, getting more choked up. "Samuels, you _did_ have an actual life… you're the bravest and most selfless man I've ever met… please don't go… Samuels? Samuels?!"

The Synthetic said nothing in reply, nor did her move at all when she shook him, and there was an empty feeling inside her when she realized that he was gone. Ripley would have expected anyone in this kind of situation to scream or get angry, but instead she just remained in place, silently holding him as her falling tears dropped onto the white blood. Eventually she was able to move enough to lay him down on the floor, and she was just using her hand to close his eyes, when a crackling sound came through her radio.

" _Ripley_?!" Ricardo's voice yelled through the slowly clearing static. " _Ripley, can you hear me_?! _Are you all right_?! _Please, answer me_!"

"I… I'm here." She replied, wiping her eyes. "Ricardo, I'm here."

It was hard to pay attention to what the Deputy said next; something about interference that started when she had entered Android Processing, and him losing her signal until just now. It was probably Samuels' work on the reformat chamber that caused the radio to be jammed like that, and now that the power had been stopped, the signal was clearing up.

"Ricardo… Samuels is gone." Ripley interrupted. "He opened the maintenance elevator to Apollo's core… but he's… he's gone."

" _Oh, shit_." Ricardo's voice whispered. " _Oh, Ripley, I'm so sorry_."

The Deputy tried to be sympathetic, but from the way he formed half-finished sentences, she could tell that he wasn't very good about these kind of situations, so she just told him that she would be fine. After all, Samuels had given his life so that they could save the station, so she gave the Synthetic a kiss on the forehead before slowly pulling herself to her feet.

"I'm going down to see Apollo." She continued, having to wipe her eyes again. "I'll get the damn thing to stand down, and then maybe we'll be able to get communications back as well… you didn't, by chance, happen to spot Taylor anywhere onboard the station, did you?"

" _No, I'm afraid not_." Ricardo replied. " _But I did manage to find the security recordings from right before the Joes all went crazy. She was at the cell door, talking to Marlow for a good length of time… the camera was too far away to hear what was said, but she definitely let him out right after those God damn Androids broke into the Bureau_."

Well, that was _great_ , Ripley thought as she walked toward the now open maintenance elevator. By now the two of them could have been anywhere on Sevastopol, if they managed to get past the Working Joes, that is. Unless… unless their plan was to find a way to get back onboard Marlow's ship, the Anesidora. Of course, even if they managed to get onboard, communications were still locked down, so they wouldn't have been able to let the rest of them know.

"We'll sort that out _after_ I deal with Apollo." Ripley said, stepping into the elevator. "Hey, maybe we'll get lucky, and they've already contacted the Torrens… if Verlaine hasn't given up on us yet and left."

" _You mean from the Anesidora_?" Ricardo asked as she pushed the button. "Not sure how, since Waits blew up the dry dock… unless they did another space-walk like you three did when you first got here."

As the small maintenance elevator started down, it was hard to imagine anyone getting Taylor to do another space-walk for _any_ reason after the disaster that happened with the first one, but it was also hard to think of another way to get onboard the Anesidora. Sure, Marlow's codes would allow it to be piloted by remote and even open the airlocks, but getting into a suit seemed to be the only way. Well, like she said, Ripley would have to figure that out _after_ dealing with Apollo… a meeting that was getting closer as the elevator descended down into the station's A.I. core.


	21. Chapter 21 Special Order 939

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty One: Special Order 939**

This had been by far the longest elevator ride that Ripley had taken since arriving at Sevastopol station, but then again, this was to be expected. After all, she had gone all the way to the top of Seegson Synthetics, and now had to travel almost all the way down to the station's central reactor. She was also glad that this was going to be her last stop before everything could go back to normal; no more lunatics, no more Working Joes, and no more of that creature that would probably be giving her nightmares for years to come.

" _You're just about there, Ripley_." Ricardo's voice said as the elevator began slowing down. " _Apollo's interface dome should be right in front of you, and then you just tell it to back off, and everything can be normal again, yeah_?"

"That's the plan." Ripley replied as it came to a stop. "Then we can find Taylor, and get as far away from this damn place as possible."

The Deputy seemed to like that idea, and his enthusiasm made her crack a smile for the first time in what felt forever. But before _anything_ could go back to normal, Ripley needed to unfuck Apollo, so she stepped out into an enclosed area once the doors opened, and there was the interface dome. It was bigger than the interface housing that she had seen on even the largest ships, but it probably had to be, since this computer was responsible for running an entire station. The good news was that there didn't seem to be any Working Joes around, probably since Apollo didn't expect anyone to be able to get this far, and the better news was that the indicator above the access door was green.

"Okay, here we go." She said, walking up to the door. "Wish me luck."

" _Good luck, Ripley_." Ricardo replied as the opening cycle began. " _Make sure you punch that asshole once in the central processor for me, yeah_?"

She chuckled a bit while promising him that she would, and then there was a release of pressured oxygen as the door slid open. Inside was an enclosed chamber that was lined with instrument panels and white indicator lights that were constantly blinking, and in the center was a large chair with the actual interface terminal built onto the front. The door closed and sealed again once Ripley was inside, and she wasted no time in sitting down as the green startup menu flickered across the screen.

 _APOLLO CORE STARTUP_

 _RESET PRIORITY COMMANDS 1990-80_

 _SEEGSON PROFILE DELETED 0000-X-RW-W_

 _ADMINISTRATION 1023_

 _SECURITY CLEARANCE N:Y90_

 _WEYLAND YUTANI SUBSYSTEM ONLINE_

 _SET R OVERRIDE YN-Y_

 _REBOOT COMPLETE_

"Wait, wait, _what_?!" Ripley asked as she read the screen. "Since when does Weyland-Yutani have _anything_ to do with Seegson?"

Not that she expected an answer, since everything on this interface had to be typed in manually, so she decided to take care of business before asking about anything else; typing the words _DISENGAGE ANDROIDS_ before hitting the _ENTER_ button. The command was processed, and a few seconds later Apollo's reply was displayed.

 _NEGATIVE_

 _WY SPECIAL ORDER 939 IN PROGRESS_

Okay, she thought, this was getting ridiculous. What the hell could Weyland-Yutani possibly have to do with a Seegson A.I., since everything that corporation did was internal? Everyone knew that Seegson was vertically integrated so that they controlled every single aspect of their products, from mining, all the way up to sales. But instead of wracking her brain for answers that it didn't have, Ripley just decided to ask Apollo. So she typed in the words _WEYLAND-YUTANI?_ As before the inquiry was processed, and the reply came back a few seconds later.

 _WELYAND YUTANI OWNS AND OPERATES THIS FACILITY_

 _PURCHASE ORDERS RECEIVED ON 11.21.2137_

She wasn't so much surprised that the company had purchased Sevastopol, since Weyland-Yutani easily had the resources required, but it was the date that concerned her. If what Apollo said was true, and this station was purchased on November 21st, that would mean that it was bought two days after she and the others had left on the Torrens. Now, as weird and unnerving as this revelation was, there was something else that was bothering her, so she typed in the words _WHAT IS SPECIAL ORDER 939?_ Part of her didn't want to know the answer, but that didn't stop her from looking at the response when it flashed across the screen.

 _PRIORITY ONE_

 _PROTECT SPECIMEN_

 _MAINTAIN STATION QUARANTINE_

 _DISALLOW COMMUNICATIONS_

 _ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS SECONDARY_

At first Ripley wondered what was meant by specimen, but then a knot formed in her stomach when she realized that it was talking about the creature. But that would mean that the company _knew_ about it in advance and didn't warn anyone for some reason, and that was just… stupid. Why would anyone actually _want_ to protect that thing? What _possible_ purpose could a monster like that serve, other than to murder everything in sight? Was that it? Did they somehow think that they could tame it or something? That plan would be even dumber than trying to protect it, but regardless… it was gone, so she typed in the words _CREATURE NO LONGER ONBOARD SEVASTOPOL. SUSPEND SPECIAL ORDER 939 IMMEDIATELY_.

Okay, she thought as the command was processed. No matter what kind of fucked up software the company had programmed into this thing, it was still a computer, and it still operated on a system of logic. Therefore, if the creature was no longer onboard the station, then there was no longer a valid reason to continue on with the special order. The response came through a second later.

 _NEGATIVE_

 _SCHEDULED REACTOR SCANS ARE UNVERIFIED_

Yep, a system of logic, she thought as she sighed with frustration. There was no longer a point in communicating with Apollo, since it wouldn't stand down until the reactor scans had been verified, but why hadn't the scans come through? One of them had probably gotten broken by one of Waits' traps or something, which meant that now Ripley had to go down into the central core and fix it before the Working Joes would stop. So she entered the words _OPEN MAINTENANCE ACCESS TO CENTRAL CORE FOR MANUAL CHECK_ , and then terminated the interface.

The chamber powered down as she got up from the chair, and resealed itself once she left the dome, but a nearby hatch on the floor had opened, providing her with an access ladder to begin making her way down. Not wanting to spend any more time in one place, she grabbed onto the ladder, and began to descend into the engineering levels.

"Ricardo, you're not going to believe this." She said as she went down the long, dark shaft. "Apparently Seegson sold out; Apollo is running on Weyland-Yutani protocols. The company is running Apollo now, and its refusing to stop the Androids; says something's up with the reactor, so I'm headed down there now."

" _The Reactor_?!" Ricardo exclaimed, making her stop. " _No, no, no, Ripley, absolutely not. You're with the company; just tell that fucking computer that you don't give a shit, and to do what you say_."

It was a little embarrassing to admit that she was a small-fry as far as the company was concerned… in fact, so were Samuels and Taylor, or else Apollo probably wouldn't have been so ready to have them killed. But there was more than the usual concern in Ricardo's voice when she mentioned the reactor, and Ripley wasn't too pleased with his answer when she asked about it.

" _But you can't go down there, Ripley_." He explained as she resumed climbing. " _There are Working Joes down there, but not the cleaning and maintenance ones you've seen before. I'm talking about the industrial models; bigger and stronger than the others, and I hate to say this, but you don't have Samuels around anymore to protect you_."

"I know that, Ricardo." She replied, nearing the bottom of the shaft. "But Samuels sacrificed himself so that I could get here, so… I'll just have to be more careful."

It wasn't exactly an inspiring speech, but it was the best that she could do under current conditions, and it wasn't like Ricardo was the one down there risking his neck. He was sitting tight, back at the Marshal's Bureau, while she seemed to be the one constantly getting beaten and strangled. Maybe half this station's problem was that it suffered from a severe shortage of _real men_ ; with most of them pretty much hiding under the bed, while only Axel and Samuels had shown any backbone at all… and both had paid the price for it.

Not that the others hadn't suffered; Kuhlman had been brain-stabbed by the creature in what he thought was a safe zone, and Waits had been strangled by the Working Joes, but at least Axel and Samuels had actively tried to help her, instead of leaving her to fend for herself. Marlow was just as bad; probably running off to his ship with Taylor the moment things went bad… but then again, that probably saved her life, so _was_ the Anesidora's Captain really as bad as the others?

By this time she had reached the bottom of the shaft, and once the circular cover slid open, Ripley found climbing out into a dimly lit corridor. This area lacked the polish and finishing touches, if it could be called that, which the rest of the station enjoyed, instead sticking to a more bare-bones, industrial look. The floor was the same kind of metal grate that would be found on scaffolding, and the pipes that ran along the walls and ceiling were exposed, while also leaking heavily, filling up the whole place with what felt like rain and mist.

"I'm in Engineering, Ricardo." She said while taking a look around. "I'm gonna need you to guide me down to the central reactor from…

Her words stopped as she heard something up ahead, and there was a stack of supply crates nearby, so she ducked down behind it, trying to ignore Ricardo's requests for her status as a Working Joe moved across the nearby junction. A bigger, but slower walking model that stomped its way across the metal floor. It was also wearing some kind of special suit, which probably kept it insulated from the water as well as electricity, given the work that the industrial models were required to do.

"Weyland… Yutani." It said with a deeper and slower voice than the others as it walked out of sight. "Building… better… worlds."


	22. Chapter 22 Reactor Maintenance

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty Two: Reactor Maintenance**

"I'm still here, Ricardo, I'm okay." Ripley whispered once the Android was out of sight. "I think I just saw one of those _industrial_ Working Joes that you mentioned, but it didn't see me."

 _"_ _Well, thank God for that." The Deputy's voice replied. "The last thing you want is to get one of them after you… these things are tough, Ripley, like, really, really tough. Now, they might not be as fast or smart as the Weyland-Yutani models, but as far as strength goes, these things could easily match Samuels_."

Yeah, this lengthy description about how big and bad the industrial Androids were, was not exactly boosting Ripley's confidence, and of course Ricardo began apologizing when she informed him of this. However, there was no need for him to apologize, since these were things that she needed to know, and when it all came down to it, she really was making a stupid decision by going down into the engineering decks alone.

"Relax, Ricardo, I don't plan on fighting." She answered, peeking out to make sure it was gone. "I'm gonna try to sneak past it, so tell me how to get to _Reactor Maintenance_."

" _You're pretty close to the entrance, actually_." Ricardo said. " _Just stay on that corridor, and follow the directory signs_."

Like in all the other areas of Sevastopol that she had explored, there were clearly marked signs painted on the wall, and of course, the path to Reactor Maintenance made her go the same way that the Android had gone. So she made sure that the shotgun was completely loaded, and kept it in a ready position as she started moving forward, even though she hoped that there would be no reason to use it. The steam and spraying water made it more difficult to both see and hear anything that was moving around, but maybe that would make _her_ harder to spot as well.

Moving up against the wall as she neared she reached the junction, Ripley slowly peeked around the corner, but the Working Joe was nowhere in sight. It was nice that the thing wasn't waiting right around the corner for her, but then again… where the hell was it? During Waits' whole ' _cage within a cage within a cage'_ nonsense, Ricardo had used his monitors to track the position of the creature, but when she asked him about doing this for the Androids, Ripley was disappointed to hear that the steam and water was causing too much interference.

"I'll just have to be more careful, then." She whispered, crouching down as she rounded the corner.

There were several small workshops that she passed while moving down the corridor, but as much as she would have loved to spend hours scavenging useful tools from them, the risk of being discovered by an industrial Android wasn't worth it. The corridor turned once or twice, and Ripley was genuinely shocked to see active security cameras moving from side to side at a few points along the path. The time that it took to avoid their bright searchlights really slowed her down, but even though no one was going to arrest her for trespassing, an intruder alarm was sure to bring more Working Joes to this area.

"I'm almost there, Ricardo." She reported as she approached a large doorway. "It says Reactor Maintenance above the door, and so far no sign of the Android… um, Ricardo… Ricardo, there's a security shutter in my way."

" _There shouldn't be_." Ricardo replied as she nervously looked around. " _I mean, of course there's shutters, but they should be open unless someone closed them manually. Hold on, let me see if… nope, it's a closed system, so I can't do anything about it from here… you'll have to backtrack to the Facility Manager's office, and use his terminal to open the shutter before you can go any further_."

Wonderful, Ripley thought as she turned around toward the workshops that she had passed, more time that a Working Joe could use to find her. Still, there was no sign of the Android anywhere, and as she ducked into every shop and hid underneath every table on the way back toward the junction she had arrived at… there was still nothing. She _knew_ that there was one of them around, and not seeing the damn thing was almost worse than knowing where it was, since at least then… well, then she would know where it was.

Turns out that if she would have gone right instead of left at the first junction, she would have gone around a corner, and come to an open door with the words _FACILITY MANAGER_ painted above it. Now all she had to do was go in and access the terminal, but this plan was halted, as were her movements when the industrial Working Joe came walking out of the office.

"There… you are." It said as it turned to face her. "You are… getting careless… Ripley, Amanda… you're presence… has been logged… come with me… please."

This model of the Working Joe Androids was even bigger and scarier looking up close than it had been at a distance, but so was her shotgun, and the Android's advance was stopped when she raised the weapon, and fired a shell right into its chest. There was a splash of white blood as it stumbled backwards, but then it regained its footing, and stood back up like nothing had happened.

"Do not… do that." It said, resuming the advance. "My turn… now."

But it was _not_ the Working Joe's turn, it was Ripley's as she cocked the shotgun and fired another shell that tore into its face and neck. It stumbled again as the steam and spraying water washed away the spilling white, but the thing was still on its feet, when that kind of punishment had never failed to destroy one of the other models. So she fired again, and again, pulverizing parts of its head and chest, until the last shell in her shotgun _finally_ sent the Android down. It fell onto its back, twitching as more of the white blood poured out onto the grated floor.

" _Was that gunshots I just heard_?!" Ricardo asked. " _Ripley, were those gunshots_?! _Are you okay_?!"

"Yes, _Jesus_ , I'm fine." She snapped, staring at the deactivated Android. "One of the industrial models tried to ambush me, but I got him."

Not waiting to see if any more of them were going to show up, Ripley stepped over the still twitching Working Joe, and ran into the large office. The computer terminal that she needed was sitting on a large desk at the back of the room, so she rushed over, and pushed the button, causing the _SEVASTOLINK_ logo to display while she sat down. Once the menu appeared, she had to search through several menu options that contained service logs, inventory sheets, and a whole bunch of other things that she didn't have time for.

There was so much junk on this terminal, that it made her think that whoever ran this section of Sevastopol had nothing better to do than just sit there and fill up the machine with complete nonsense. Finally, in the last menu selection, in a folder that had absolutely nothing to do with security, or door controls, or anything, Ripley found icon marked _SHUTTER CONTROL_. The status said that it was _locked_ , so she highlighted it and hit enter, changing the status to _unlocked_ , meaning that she could now get into Reactor Maintenance.

"Something is… still amiss." The deactivated Android said, making her gasp as it suddenly sat up. "Apollo will… want a… full report."

Ripley couldn't believe what she was seeing; the Android that she had just pumped _six shotgun shells_ into, was not only somehow still functioning, but also pulling itself to its feet like it was about to continue trying to get her. Using the wall as support, the Working Joe slowly got to its feet, and now Ripley's mouth ran dry, since it was standing nearly all the way up before she even thought about reloading the shotgun.

"There, you're… still here then." It said, turning to face her while she shoved in the shells. "Are you… playing a game… with me?"

There were only four shells in the weapon when the Android started into the office, so Ripley jumped up, cocked the weapon, and fired. This time, however, she didn't aim for the head or chest. Instead, the shell was sent into the arm that it was leaning on the wall with, staggering it just in time for her next shell to be fired into the leg that it was leaning on. This caused the Android to fall on its face, and Ripley used this moment of distraction to make a run for it.

Stomping down on the Android's back in order to get past it, she nearly slipped on the grated floor thanks to the constantly spraying water, and didn't bother looking back to see if the Working Joe was going to make another attempt to get up. Not only was this because its resilience was starting to frighten her, but also because based on the feel of her pockets, she didn't have very many shells left.

Now that she wasn't sneaking around, it only took a few seconds for Ripley to pass the first junction and reach the doorway to Reactor Maintenance, which thankfully, was now open. Beyond the doorway was only a short addition to the corridor, which ended at a small service elevator that had the words _REACTOR MAINTENANCE_ painted on top. The security shutters made more sense now, being that they were meant to lockdown the elevator, but that didn't make being trapped with an industrial Working Joe any more pleasant.

"Ricardo, have you ever been to the reactor?" She asked once the doors closed behind her. "I did some training on one, but it seems like a lifetime ago."

" _Sorry, Ripley, never took the tour_." Ricardo replied as it started down. " _That service elevator you're in should take you to the reactor's control room, but the reactor itself is pretty big, so you'll have to look around for Apollo's problem manually… um, Ripley… are you okay? I mean, that Joe you just ran into, he didn't… you know… hurt you, did he_?"

She assured him that she was okay, and although it was nice to know that the Deputy cared, it still made Ripley a little angry that she was always the one that had to do all of the legwork. If Ricardo had really been that worried about her well-being, then he would've been there with her, like Axel and Samuels had done, instead of cowering at the Bureau where it was safe… _mostly_.

It didn't take long for the elevator to reach the bottom, since there wasn't much farther she could go, and when the doors opened, the first thing she saw was a brilliant flash of blue lightning off in the distance, making her jump. She was now inside of a decent size control room that was filled with monitors and instrument panels, and beyond the shielded viewing window, the top of the reactor could be seen. The flash of light had come from one of the two sub-cores that sat on either side of the much larger central core.

However, what she _didn't_ see was a problem. From the viewing window, everything looked like it was functioning properly; both sub-cores were firing, the walkways down below looked intact, and as a bonus, she couldn't see any Androids around, either. Next, she checked the instrument panels, and at first everything was in the green… everything except the sensor group on the lower levels, which showed nothing but errors.

"I think I found it, Ricardo." Ripley said as she looked for a way down. "I'm showing _all kinds_ of errors on the lower levels; gonna have to get down there and fix the problem manually."

" _There should be a lift or something near the central core_." Ricardo's voice replied. " _The catwalks below you should take you right to it_."

There was also a small lift in the back of the control room, next to a locked door that was marked _EMERGENCY EXIT_. So she moved away from the instruments, stepped onto the small lift, and slowly began descending toward the reactor catwalks.


	23. Chapter 23 The Nest

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty Three: The Nest**

The first thing that Ripley noticed as she stepped onto the catwalks once the service lift came to a stop, was how massive the chamber that housed the Sevastopol's Reactor was. She supposed that it had to be, given the size of both the sub-cores and the central core itself, as well as the power demands of a station on the scale of this one, but that didn't stop her from feeling uneasy while looking over the guardrail into the darkness below.

The catwalks were grated steel like the floors of the engineering section, but aside from the timed flashes of lightning generated by the firing of the two sub-cores, the only illumination came from a few work-lights at intervals along the guardrails. There were also some active control panels at access stations near each sub-core, which the catwalks split up to reach by wrapping around the central core itself, rejoining around the back where the access elevator to the lower levels was located.

It was still a decent walk to get all the way across, which gave Ripley time to think about how she was going to handle the situation once she got down there. First, she would have to find the problem, which she hoped was something simple like a few broken sensor-heads or something, but then she would need tools. That shouldn't be too difficult to manage, since most places that required regular maintenance kept at least an emergency toolkit somewhere close by, so the biggest problem would be keeping away from the industrial Working Joes.

"I'm almost at the elevator, Ricardo." Ripley said as she moved around the central core. "No Androids yet, but can you give me _any_ kind of readings on the lower levels?"

" _Sorry, Ripley, but I'm getting nothing from here_." Ricardo's voice replied. " _It might be interference from the reactor, but my console says that the whole sensor network down there is, well… down_."

 _Wonderful_ , she thought while approaching the elevator. So, not only did she have to descend into the reactor's lower levels all by herself, but she _also_ had to go in blindly, and with her luck there would be about a hundred of those God damn Androids waiting to ambush her the moment the doors opened. Well, at least she still had the shotgun, even though there weren't a lot of shells left for it once it was completely reloaded. In fact, once she consolidated the rest into one pocked, Ripley realized that there were only enough to reload it one more time, and that was it.

"Great." She said to herself after pushing the call button. "That's just _fucking_ great."

At least this time Apollo wouldn't have any choice but to stand down once the sensors were back online, and the stupid machine saw that the creature was no longer onboard the station. This thought made Ripley feel a little better when the doors opened and she stepped into the elevator, quickly pushing the button so that she could get down there and bring this whole nightmare to an end as fast as possible. The elevator moved slowly once the doors closed, as if purposely trying to make her feel more anxious about where she was going, but then it came to a stop, and suddenly she appreciated the slowness when the doors finally opened.

"What… in… the… fuck?" She whispered at what she saw.

The corridor started out normal enough, and was even well lit for once, but there was a couple inches of water across the whole floor as if something had flooded down there. This wasn't what caught her attention, though; about thirty feet into the corridor, the whole area changed. There was some kind of texture along the walls and ceiling, a sort of purplish-gray substance, but it was patterned almost like ribs attached to a spine. The lights were mostly positioned between these _'ribs'_ , allowing Ripley to see that there was something else between some of them as well. Something that seemed to be interweaved into the substance.

She had to get closer to see what it was that was, but once there, Ripley gasped and jumped back, losing her balance and falling so that she was sitting in the water. It was a _person_! A Human Being was tucked down into a kind of sitting position in between the rib-structures, with what looked like thinner tendrils of the same substance holding their arms and legs so that he couldn't move. The man looked like he had been dead for a while, but his face was twisted into an expression of agony, and there was a strange wound on his chest. It looked like an exit wound, with how the bones underneath were bent outward, but there was no entry wound on the back… just like the Patient Zero she had seen in San Christobal.

And he was not the only one. There were more… lots more… _dozens_ , in fact… both men and women, all bound in similar fashion, although some had been left in a standing position. They were all dead, though, and there were these strange kind of… _pods_ that were sitting around, one positioned nearby each body. They were like a brownish, leathery sack with nothing inside, and the top flaps open. It kind of reminded her of the ones that Marlow had described on the planet… the one where that little spider-thing jumped out and latched itself to the face of one of his crew.

"Ricardo… I think I found them." She whispered, slowly getting to her feet. "The missing people, they're here… in this… _place_. It's like the place that Marlow described; those pods, and these people all look like that woman I saw in the hospital."

 _"Shit_! _Ripley, you have to get out of there_!" The Deputy's voice exclaimed. " _That creature came out of Patient Zero, that's how this whole thing started! Ripley, get out of there right now_!"

What Ricardo was saying didn't make any sense. She already knew that the creature had come out of that woman and gotten _really_ big, but even so, Ripley had _personally_ sent that monster to its death in the gas giant's atmosphere. She was just about to argue this to him, when her words stopped as the elevator doors closed before it started back up toward the catwalks. _Oh shit_ , she thought as she realized that the Working Joe from engineering must've followed her, and now she started looking for a place to hide.

Forced to move farther into the structure, the room opened up a bit, and Ripley was able to find shelter by hiding behind an exposed control station. By the time she got there, the elevator had made it to the top, and she was trying to think of how to best deal with the Android, when it started back down a couple seconds later. If it was the same one, then it was heavily damaged, and couldn't possibly take much more punishment, but if it was a different one, or not alone… then she had a problem. Either way, the elevator had reached the bottom now, and even though she couldn't see it from where she was, she could hear the heavy footsteps approaching once the doors opened.

But it wasn't a Working Joe of _any_ model that came walking into the open room a moment later, and Ripley couldn't even get herself to breathe when she saw the black figure with the elongated head, grinning teeth, and spear-like tail dragging through the shallow water on the floor. _It was the creature!_ Wait, no… this one was different… its body was identical, but its tail was intact, and it did not appear to be injured in any way. So did that mean… that it was a _different_ creature?

It was also dragging something behind it; a dead person… no, he was breathing as it pulled him along by the ankle, so merely unconscious. The creature then took him over to an empty place between the rib-structures, stuffed him inside, and then began to excrete a kind of dark liquid from its mouth. The substance sprayed over the man's body, mostly his arms and legs, and seemed to quickly harden so that it was like the tendrils that restrained all the others. Once this was finished, the creature turned away and walked deeper into the structure, with Ripley making sure that it was gone before creeping out of hiding.

Ricardo was right, she had to get out of there, but she couldn't just leave the man trapped like that. So she stayed crouched down, trying to make as little noise as possible while going through the water. There was a pod next to him as well, but the top was different, looking like it was sealed up, which was probably a good thing since she would need time to both wake him up and free him. The man was out pretty good, so Ripley decided to try freeing him first, but the hardened substance was a lot harder than it looked.

" _Ripley, are you out yet_?" Ricardo asked. _"I'm not tracking you yet. Ripley, are you out_?"

"No, not yet." She whispered while pulling on the tendrils. "I found a survivor, just give me a second."

Now, Ripley considered herself to be pretty strong for a woman her size, but no matter how much she pulled and pulled, the dark substance just wouldn't give. The task was made even more difficult by the fact that she had to constantly be on the lookout for the creature, but now the man was starting to wake up. His head moved around at first, then he groaned before opening his eyes. He seemed disoriented at first, but quickly realized that something was wrong when he tried to move.

"What?!" He exclaimed, looking around. "Where am I?! What happened?!"

"Shhh!" Ripley whispered harshly, putting her hand over his mouth. "Shhh! Be quiet, damn it! Help me get you out…

Suddenly something moved behind her, and Ripley was scared that it was the creature, but it was the pod that was moving when she turned around. The top of it was slowly folding downward into four flaps, and through the partially transparent membrane at the bottom, something could be seen fluttering around inside. Then it moved, traveling upward, and making her gasp as it's long, boney, finger-like appendages grabbed onto the edge to pull itself up. Then it leapt forward, making her gasp and fall backwards as its spider-like body and long ridge-covered tail flew over her.

The trapped man started to scream as it landed next to him, but was cut off when the little spider-thing jumped onto his face. It's _'fingers'_ wrapped around his head, while its tail did the same to his throat, squeezing tightly so that he started to gag and cough. This sound was also quickly cut off, and all Ripley could do was stare terrified as his struggles slowly stopped a few seconds later. This was just what Marlow said happened to his crewmember, and that meant… no, she had to get it off of him.

Getting up, she grabbed the spider-thing's body, and tried to pull it off of him, but the fingers and tail tightened so that she couldn't. The only option left was the shotgun, so she was aiming so that it would just be grazed and hopefully scared off, when it became Ripley who was scared. Because down the corridor leading further into this… _nest_ … was the creature. It just stood there, staring at her and grinning just like the other one had done… and it wasn't alone. Two more of the black nightmares were walking up behind it, and they too just stood there once they noticed her.

"Oh, no." Ripley whispered while starting to back away. "No, no, no, no, no."

She then made a run for it, sprinting back toward the elevator as the creatures pursued.


	24. Chapter 24 Quick Thinking

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty Four: Quick Thinking**

The creatures could be heard shrieking as they splashed through the water behind her, and they were gaining, no matter how fast Ripley sprinted toward the elevator doors. Thankfully, she had a good head-start, but this only gave her time so smack the call button, turn around, and fire the shotgun without aiming or looking. The three creatures were right on her heels, but when the flash of light and loud _bang_ echoed through the narrow corridor, the front two creatures stumbled back a bit after taking the shell right in the face.

More of that greenish-yellow acidic blood dripped out onto the floor as they stumbled back a bit, momentarily blocking the third one's advance that had been coming up behind them. So she fired again, and again, peppering their oily, black bodies with small wounds that seemed to do little more than irritate them, but by this time the elevator doors had opened, allowing her to back up into the car. Ripley fired another shell before hitting the button to take her back up to the reactor's catwalks, and then another just before the doors finished closing, since the creatures were trying to rush her again.

She could hear them pounding on the door from the other side, and Ripley remained motionless; the shotgun aimed at the doors just in case they got through, even though the elevator was now moving upward… and she only had one shell left in the chamber. Not that she could move even if she wanted to, since the sight of what happened to that man down below was only just now sinking in. As was the realization that not only was there _another_ creature on the station, not only was there _more than one_ … but they had built some kind of _nest_ down there, where _more of them_ were being created.

Remaining motionless as she tried to wrap her mind around everything that had just happened, Ripley hadn't realized that the elevator had reached the top and opened, until the doors started to close again. Knowing that staying there would mean going back down to the nest, she quickly held the shotgun in the doorway to keep it from closing, but now what the hell was she going to do? For now there didn't seem to be any of those creatures on this level, so she tried her best to reload her weapon with shaky hands.

One of the shells fell into the door-track when she dropped it, so Ripley had to take the last spare shell out of her pocket in order to fill the shotgun completely. As for the fallen shell, it landed long-ways inside the track, but the good news was that it was just long enough to keep the elevator from closing all the way, once the door pushed it against the wall. That meant that it would keep the creatures from using it, but what was _really_ needed there was some kind of permanent solution, and Ricardo's continuous demands for her status were not helping her to think.

"Yes, Ricardo, okay, I got out!" She finally yelled as the door kept opening and closing. "I'm fine, but Apollo is _never_ going to stand down with that nest and all those creatures down there. I… I don't know what else we can do."

" _Forget the creatures, Ripley_." Ricardo's voice replied less than confidently. " _Forget Apollo, and forget the Working Joes. Just… come back to the Bureau, where you'll be safe, and then we can figure this out together, okay_?"

It was a nice sentiment, but what the hell was there to figure out? That nest was probably massive, and she had only seen the outermost edge of it, along with how many more people were probably trapped throughout… so what was she supposed to do? What _could_ she do about the dozens, if not _hundreds_ of creatures that were being spawned down there? Short of blowing up the reactor, there was nothing that… nothing that…

The sub-core nearest to her fired during these thoughts, interrupting them as the reactor chamber was filled with a flash of bright light, and this gave Ripley a _new_ idea. She couldn't blow up the reactor, since that would in-turn destroy Sevastopol, as well as herself, along with it… but what if there was another option? If she couldn't _destroy_ the reactor… then what about _purging_ it? From what she remembered from training, large-scale reactors like this one required a quarterly purge, basically a controlled and vented overload, in order to release any redundant energy among other things. The bottom line of this procedure, though… was a very large explosion.

"Ricardo, I think I have an idea." She said, moving away from the elevator. "If I trigger a manual purge of Sevastopol's reactor, it might be enough to destroy the nest."

Of course, the Deputy immediately started to protest, but Ripley ignored him as she moved over to the access station of the nearest sub-core. The station was right beneath the discharge point between the upper and lower pylons of the tower, making her jump each time it fired, and although Seegson made everything _really_ user friendly, it still slowed her down to have to continually check if there were any of those creatures around.

Once the proper menu on the access terminal was located, Ripley set the system for a slow energy buildup in preparation for a maintenance purge. There was no danger to herself, since the sequence had to be triggered from the shielded control room, but she would have to set the other sub-core first, and the divert everything to the center, which meant going all the way around the central core to the other side. So she made her way around as quickly as possible, before suddenly stopping in her tracks at what she saw up ahead.

"I knew you… were still here." The industrial Working Joe said as it appeared in her path. "I have been… very patient with you… so far."

The Android was in bad shape; limping heavily, one arm twitching, and white blood leaking out of every hole that the shotgun had previously put into its body. The thing looked like it was about to collapse right there, yet it was still moving, and its glowing red eyes locked onto her with intent to kill. Ripley was really not in the mood to deal with its bullshit right now, and there were still six shells in the shotgun, so she aimed, and fired.

The blast from the weapon could barely be heard over the reactor's next discharge, but the impact could be seen clearly enough as the shell tore into the Android's chest, making it stumble back a couple steps. More white blood splashed onto the floor, making Ripley wonder just how much of it the Working Joe had, and then she fired again once it started to right itself. There was _no way_ that this thing could take much more punishment, she thought as the Android stumbled into the guardrail, but it was only a matter of time before those creatures found a way up there, so she shot the Working Joe in the legs one more time, before running past it.

Three shells left, she thought as she continued around to the other side, where the access station for the other sub-core was. This one was just as user friendly when she accessed it, and before long the second sub-core had been set for slow buildup. Now all she had to do was transfer all the power to the central tower, and set it off the purge from the control station. However, she had just turned to leave the access station, when the Android came stumbling into view.

Sighing with frustration, Ripley walked toward it, intent on using her last three shells to finish it off. So she halved the distance between them, and was aiming her weapon, when something unexpected happened. The android suddenly grabbed the guardrail, and then ripped it off and tossed the piece at her in one fluid motion. The metal bar spun around as it flew, giving her just enough time to gasp in shock, before her ears started ringing from the impact.

It had been vertical when it hit, striking both the shotgun, and her forehead at the same time, knocking Ripley off her feet. She landed on her back with her head turned to the side, allowing her to watch helplessly as the shotgun slid across the grated floor… until it went right over the edge, vanishing into the darkness below.

"Running causes… accidents." The Android said as it limped closer. "You really should… be more careful."

Ripley tried to get up, but this was never easy after taking a blow to the head, so she was only up to her hands and knees, struggling to stay up even that much, by the time it reached her. The shotgun was gone, and this industrial Working Joe was sure to kill her if it got a hold of her, leaving no way for her to defend herself… except for the metal bar. So as it was reaching out with its functioning hand, Ripley grabbed the bar and rammed the end into its knee. This knocked it off balance enough to miss the grab, and then she pulled back, before swinging the bar at its head like a baseball bat.

The impact to its head caused the Android to fall over, where it struck its head again on the nearby guardrail, before falling to the floor. Maybe it was the surge of adrenaline, or maybe her own sense of self-preservation, but Ripley found the strength to get up, although no faster than the Android was able to. They both used the guardrail to pull themselves to their feet, and once she was standing, she swung the bar again… only to have the Android catch it with its hand.

"You are carrying… dangerous equipment." It said as it pulled the bar away from her. "Come with me… please."

It then pulled back, and swung the bar at her head, but at the last second Ripley ducked down. She felt the rush of wind as the bar flew over, and then she put her hands on the Android's torso, shoving back as hard as she could while standing back up. The Working Joe was already off-balance because of its leg, as well as swinging the weapon, so it was easy for her to send it reeling backwards into the guardrail. Of course, this section was already weakened from a nearby part being ripped off, so the railing bent from the impact, causing the Android to tumble over the edge, quickly vanishing into the darkness below.

"Holy fuck." Ripley panted as she rested against another guardrail. "Stupid… fucking… androids."

But there was no time to rest right then, nor was there time to gloat about her victory, or even to make sure that the thing was really gone this time. Then again, once she set off the reactor purge, the Android was sure to be destroyed along with the nest and the creatures, so she needed to get moving. Ripley was still feeling a bit dizzy as she got to her feet, but her head was clearing by the time she got to the rerouting circuit panel on the central core. It was a heavy switch, like the breaker in that science module, and there was a loud _squeak_ when she pulled it down.

"I'm all set down here, Ricardo." She said as the energy began flowing into the central core. "So just… find something to hold onto."

The whole reactor chamber was now beginning to shake from the energy buildup, so Ripley turned, and started running toward the service lift that would bring her back up into the control center.


	25. Chapter 25 Reactor Purge

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty Five: Reactor Purge**

Every passing second was another opportunity for those creatures to find another way out of their nest, so Ripley ran across the catwalks at full speed, stopping only when she had reached the small service lift. The continued energy buildup in the central core was causing the whole chamber to shake, and now the overload warning alarms were beginning to sound, in addition to those damn yellow spinning lights. It had never occurred to Ripley how much she hated those things until seeing them again and again on Sevastopol, but once the reactor purge sequence was completed, it would be the last of them she would have to see.

It felt like the service lift was taking forever and a day to bring her back up into the control room, and the shaking had intensified by the time she had returned into the room, with the service lift locking and sealing behind her. The monitors were all showing red warning signs, and there was an automated message being broadcast, but Ripley didn't pay attention to it as she moved up to the centermost controls.

"Ricardo, I'm about to purge the nest." She said while entering the commands. "Hang tight."

Not waiting for his reply, Ripley entered the last code, and then pushed the large red button in front of her. This caused the chamber, and possibly the whole station to rock violently to the side, as a blinding flash of crackling blue and white energy was released from the central core in pulses that appeared to be directed downwards. So that was it, she thought while sighing with relief as the energy slowly faded. No more nest, no more industrial Working Joe, and most importantly: No more creatures, like the one that was walking across the catwalks below.

" _What?!_ " Ripley exclaimed in shock as the creature began climbing up the central core. "No! No, God damn it, no!"

She watched intently as it vanished up into the darkness of the reactor chamber, and now it felt like everything they had done was a waste. Waits' plan, Samuels' sacrifice, all of it had been for nothing, since now Ripley was in the same situation as when the lone creature had started hunting for her after taking Axel. But then she realized that the situation was much worse than before, when the creature was followed by another one… and then another one… and then another one.

"Ripley, what happened?" Ricardo's voice asked. "The whole station felt like it was falling apart… so, was that it? Did it work?"

"It didn't work, Ricardo." She could barely say as the creatures climbed toward the top of the chamber. "Some of them got out of the nest, and…

Her words suddenly became a scream as another creature leapt up onto the protective glass from below, causing her to stumble backwards and fall to the floor. It looked at her for a second, and then continued upward, followed by a few more, who also stopped to express interest in her before continuing on their way. The station had now stopped shaking, and the warning lights were off, but now a new message was displayed across the monitors.

" _By order of Apollo_." An automated voice said with the screen. " _Biohazard Containment Level maintained at… Omega. Warning; multiple unregistered lifeforms detected throughout Sevastopol. Power levels throughout Sevastopol have been compromised… we apologize for any inconvenience_."

"Oh, no trouble at all… bitch." Ripley groaned as she got up. "Ricardo, there's still a bunch of those creatures on the station… I'm sorry."

" _Don't worry about that, now_." The Deputy's voice replied. " _You did your best, Ripley, more than anyone else did, so just… just come back to the Bureau… wait, no… no, hold on… hold on, something's happening. Ripley… that reactor purge, it's… my God, its resetting systems all across the station. I'm showing lights, transit, hell, maybe even communications. This could be our big chance, Ripley, meet me in comms_."

Now, this was a surprising turn of events. Since when did Ricardo want to do _anything_ besides cower under the Marshal's desk? Of course, this wasn't the time to question when someone got a sudden burst of bravery… nor was it a good idea to stay there for too long thinking about it. Those creatures at the window had seemed _awfully_ interested in her, so she decided to get moving before they found a way in.

It was far easier to move back through the station now that she knew where the hell she was going, but now instead of Working Joes to deal with, Ripley had to once again try not to alert those creatures. Retracing her path back through Engineering, and back up into the Apollo Core, she was a nervous wreck as she ducked behind any cover she could find. Now that Ricardo had gone down to Comms, she didn't have him at the console to track the creatures' movements, but so far she hadn't seen any of them.

Not that she was complaining, it was just that it was easier to know where the creatures were, in order to have a plan to avoid them. Instead, she found herself reverting to the condition that she had first found Axel in; nervous as shit, and constantly looking at the vents and floors in case the _killer_ came from the shadows. Past Apollo, and back up the maintenance elevator to Android Processing, Ripley was making good time, until she had to pass by Samuels' body lying where she had left it next to the Reformat Chamber.

"I'm so sorry, Samuels." She whispered while kneeling down next to him. "I…

Honestly not knowing what else to say, the only thing that Ripley could do was keep moving, and this continued to be easy since the Working Joes on this level were also lying right where she had left them. Making sure to step on the damn things on the way, she crawled back into the vents, and was passing the spot where she had first seen Samuels crush a Working Joe, when something moved. It was a shadow passing by the vent in the corridor, and only after looking closer, did she realize that it was one of those creatures.

It passed right by the vent, giving Ripley a clear view of its white, human-like teeth, and making her have to clamp her hand over her mouth in order to keep from whimpering like a twelve year-old. Thankfully, it didn't seem to notice her, and passed right by the vents, allowing her to continue on… once she had stopped shaking enough to move silently again, that is. She had gotten used to being able to move more freely after sending the first creature into the gas giant, but now Ripley had to re-learn how to be stealthy again.

" _Ripley, hold on a second_." Ricardo's voice said as she climbed into the elevator shaft. " _I've got some bad news. I'm at Comms, but I didn't make it in time; Apollo must've recovered from the shock, and communications are locked down again_. _But I have another idea… once you get back near the Bureau, I need you to head back down to Medical_."

"What? _Medical_?" She whispered while climbing down the long ladder. "Are you _insane_? Why would I _ever_ want to go back down there?"

At this point, Ripley was beginning to doubt the Deputy's sanity. Had he finally cracked completely? Not that she would have thought any less of him if he had, since there probably weren't that many people in the _galaxy_ who could handle a situation like this one. But then he told her something that cast all her doubts about him aside. Apollo may have locked communications down again, but the console in front of him showed a ship approaching Sevastopol… the _Anesidora_ , in fact.

" _Comms were temporarily open_." Ricardo continued. " _Marlow must've managed to send out his auto-codes during that window to call it in. There's nowhere for it to dock, since Waits blew up the landing bay, but its holding position nearby Medical. All transit systems are open again, so I think Marlow used one of the Ambulance Shuttles to reach it_."

"And that means _I_ can use them, too." Ripley replied, stepping off the ladder onto that first elevator. "Okay, I'll head to San Christobal, but I think those creatures are following me again, so I'll need to be quiet… and lock yourself in somewhere safe."

The Deputy assured her that he would jam the doors to the control room he was in, and now that the radio was quiet, she could focus on listening for those creatures as she dropped down into the lobby of Seegson Synthetics. She passed the reception desk where the body was still sitting with the rolled-up magazine shoved down his throat, and reached the elevator that would take her back down to the Bureau, without incident. Then as she began the long ride back down to the Bureau's Transit Hub, Ripley had some time to think.

Was Marlow trying to escape? She wondered. Of course he was, but more importantly, was Taylor still with him? She really hoped that Taylor was okay, and that Marlow had enough sense to either contact the Torrens… if it was still out there, or at least send out an emergency transmission of his own. Hell, even if all Ripley was able to do was _get aboard_ the Anesidora, she was sure that she could get Marlow to _at least_ stay long enough to pick up Ricardo.

"Something amiss?" A voice said the moment she stepped out of the elevator.

Having been so deep in thought that she forgot about the remaining Working Joes around the station, Ripley was forced to duck down behind a bench in order to avoid the Android's gaze. Remaining perfectly still, and not making a sound as it walked over to investigate, she knew that she was in trouble if it spotted her. So it looked around, paced a bit, and looked around some more, before remaining in place for the longest time.

"Another clear waste of Seegson's time." The Working Joe said as it walked away. "A Synthetic's work is never done."

Sighing heavily once the Android vanished around the corner, Ripley decided that a small stop was required before continuing on. The situation onboard Sevastopol was constantly worsening, and being unarmed didn't help, so she crept back into the Marshal's Bureau to find a weapon. After everything that she had seen, it was no longer so unnerving to see dead bodies scattered around a room, making her wonder if she was becoming braver… or if she was just so terrified that nothing else could affect her.

She would have loved to find another shotgun, or a flamethrower, but this was not to be. In fact, all Ripley was able to find was another pistol. There was plenty of ammunition for it, so she loaded the weapon and stuffed her pockets, even though she had seen that it was not effective against those creatures. It would, however, help her against any stray Androids that she came across, and if need be… help her to get Marlow to see reason. She hoped that it wouldn't come to that, but if she had learned anything on Sevastopol, it was that it was better to be safe than sorry.

Well, this was everything that she could take, so she left the Bureau, and headed back to the nearby Transit Hub. The elevator that went to San Christobal was still there from when they had first arrived, so the doors quickly opened, and she stepped inside.

" _Please_ be okay, Taylor." Ripley said as the doors closed and she started down. " _Please_ don't be an asshole, Marlow."


	26. Chapter 26 Shuttle Ride

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty Six: Shuttle Ride**

Being that Ripley had been suffering the after effects of Waits' trap the last time she had been through this part of the station, she was surprised by the level of destruction she encountered near the entrance to San Christobal, after getting off the elevator. The walls were scorched black from the explosion, the few lights that hadn't been destroyed were flickering, and the main door to the facility was laying in pieces on the stairs. As for the waiting room, the reception desk and some parts of the walls remained on fire, filling the room with a layer of black smoke that was hard to see through.

"Ricardo, it's _still_ burning in here." She said, coughing as she entered the room. "Can you do something about this smoke?"

" _Sorry, Ripley, I can't_." The Deputy's voice replied as she ducked down below the smoke. " _Even if I was still at my console at the Bureau, the fire-suppression systems were damaged when you triggered Waits' trap. That… and restarting the air filters could cause you some… unwanted attention_."

Well, he was right about that; any nearby Working Joes were sure to investigate if the system wasn't restarted by Apollo, and Ripley was sure that those creatures would come running at the first sign of Human activity. So, as much as she hated it, the smoke needed to stay. At least the lowest half of the room was clear, since heat rises, and it was still possible to read the directory signs, once she got right up to them, that is. Needless to say, her trek through the hospital was done at a slow place.

The fire had spread to other areas of San Christobal as well, creating more smoke, but also illuminating the some of the darker areas of the corridors. Unfortunately, the communications console that Ricardo was using didn't let him use the station's motion trackers, either, so Ripley would no longer be able to rely on him to track her position… or the position of _anything else_ , for that matter. Thankfully, the only things that seemed to be inside the hospital besides herself, were dead bodies.

Yeah… maybe not so _thankful_ on that last part, she thought to herself as she continued down the corridor. After all, these were the same people who she had used as a distraction in order to save herself from the first creature… but then again, these people had also pistol-whipped her, before strapping her to a gurney, and locking her in a room with Patient Zero. Before coming to Sevastopol, Ripley could never have imagined herself being able to just cope with so much death like it was nothing, but then again, she couldn't have imagined being hunted by alien creatures, either.

The smoke was slowly getting worse, making it increasingly more tempting to use one of the emergency _Re-Wire_ access points on the walls to restart the air-filters, but she didn't need Androids or creatures getting curious, so Ripley had no choice but to tough it out while following the directory signs to the _Ambulance Shuttle Bay_. The fire had not yet reached this area, allowing her to finally both stand up, as well as take deep breaths without coughing when the door closed behind her. As for the Ambulance Shuttles, there were access ports for two, but only one available, meaning that Ricardo had been right about Marlow using one to get back to his ship.

"I'm in the shuttle bay, Ricardo." She said while waiting for the access port to open. "You were right; Marlow took the other one."

" _That's actually a good thing, Ripley_." The Deputy replied. " _Once you start up the shuttle, just tell the onboard computer to copy the course of the last shuttle launched, and it will take you right to the Anesidora_."

The access port opened a few seconds later, allowing Ripley to step onto the small shuttle. There was enough space for two gurneys if patients were present, as well as an emergency airlock off to the side, and a cockpit that was built for one. As she sat down and buckled herself into the pilot's seat, it was good to know that she wouldn't have to rely on her own piloting skills to find and dock with Marlow's ship. But then, when the access port closed and locked behind her, Ripley was allowed to do something that she hadn't been able to do since arriving at Sevastopol… she relaxed.

This was the first time in what felt like forever that she had been completely alone, and not only that, but now that the shuttle was sealed, there was also no way for anything to sneak up on her, so she sighed heavily while leaning back in the seat. Once again, it was tempting to just lay there for a while and take a nap, and she might have, too, if not interrupted by Ricardo's sudden demand for her status.

"Yes, Ricardo, I'm _still_ here." She replied, entering the startup sequence. "Just taking a little longer than I thought, that's all."

" _I don't mean to be a bother, Ripley_." Ricardo explained as the engines warmed up. " _I just, you know… worry about you. You and me are the only ones left… I think. And I just… well… don't want anything to happen to you, that's all. Not quite sure what I'd do if something did_."

Based on his performance so far during this whole ordeal, Ripley's first thought in answer to this was that he would probably get killed really fast in that situation. But then she stopped working on the auto-pilot in mid-entry, when she thought a little more about what the Deputy had been saying to her recently, and this caused a new feeling of dread. Sighing in frustration while pinching the bridge of her nose, she hoped against hope that this whole crazy situation _wasn't_ causing Ricardo to fall for her.

He was a nice guy and everything, but this completely _not_ the time to look for a relationship. And even if it was, Ripley needed someone who was going to actually be there _with her_ during the tough times, instead of just hiding in a control room where it was safe. Anyway, there would be time to deal with that awkwardness later, if _any of them_ managed to survive all this, that is. So for now, she needed to find Marlow and Taylor, and once she finished entering the auto-pilot sequence, the engines started firing.

Slowly the shuttle moved out of the bay, and rotated so that it was facing away from Sevastopol station before beginning to accelerate. Aside from the damaged parts, the outside of the station was quiet and peaceful, illuminated in the brownish-yellow glow of the gas giant. For a moment, this beautiful view from space made her forget about the nightmare happening within the station, but then the shuttle turned a little, and there it was.

"Ricardo, I see the Anesidora." Ripley reported excitedly. "The ship looks like it's in good shape, and I should be docking in about a minute. Ricardo? Ricardo, can you hear me?"

" _Barely…zzz… think you're… zzz… of range_." His voice crackled through. " _Don't think… zzz… much longer_."

Oh _great_ , she thought as her shuttle approached the ship. That was just wonderful… actually, now that she thought about it, there wasn't much that Ricardo would be able to do for her, even if they could still talk, so it really didn't make much of a difference. Either way, the shuttle was on a direct approach to the Anesidora's access port, and soon the shadow of the ship blocked the light from the gas giant.

It was bigger than the Torrens, probably used for repair jobs and salvage on top of hauling cargo, like the Nostromo had been used for. All of its exterior lights and indicators were turned on as well, meaning that Marlow was powering it up in preparation to leave, but something was wrong. Instead of turning away from Sevastopol to escape, the Anesidora was very slowly starting to move _toward_ the station. But that didn't make any sense, unless something had happened to Marlow, and now _Taylor_ was trying to fly the ship on her own.

As hilarious as that image was in her head, Ripley knew that on its present course, the ship would eventually ram right into the station, but the approach _did_ shorten the length of her shuttle ride. Since the Anesidora was moving, it was a little harder for the auto-pilot to turn around toward the access port, and this left her with a perfect view of the slowly approaching station out the front window while the docking sequence completed.

"Ricardo, the Anesidora is headed toward Sevastopol." She said into the radio, hoping that somehow he would be able to hear her. "Ricardo, Marlow is flying the Anesidora right at you, is there anything that can be done? Ricardo? Ricardo?!"

This time Ripley was met with nothing but static, meaning that there was no way to warn Ricardo… not that she could really think of anything that could be done on his end. Regardless of whether or not she had contact with the Deputy, the ship was still moving, so she unbuckled the safety harness, and got out of the pilot's seat. For a moment, she regretted having to leave the relative safety of the shuttle, but then again, what danger could possibly be onboard the Anesidora? It had been in a parking orbit since _long_ before the first creature appeared on Sevastopol, so there shouldn't be any lunatics, Androids, or creatures onboard.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, and it was really bothering her now that Sevastopol was still getting closer, when she looked out the front window again. Marlow should've veered off by now if he was planning to escape, so what in the hell was he doing. Well, there was only one way to find out, and Ripley had the suspicion that she was going to need her revolver, when the access port opened, and she was able to step inside the Anesidora.


	27. Chapter 27 The Anesidora

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty Seven: The Anesidora**

The first thing that happened upon Ripley stepping through the access port onto the Anesidora, was some of the lights coming on in reaction to her presence. Not all of them, but enough to see or work under, as if they had been set to some kind of power saving mode. It was also enough to see that the ship was in poor shape, most likely from years of the crew pushing her hard, but not having the funds to properly recover from the pushing. Verlaine's ship, the Torrens, had once been in similar condition, but then her luck turned around after she got a bunch of Weyland-Yutani contracts.

Marlow hadn't seemed to share her luck, though. Steam escaped from pipes along the walls, some of the floor plates were broken, and the place was a mess. As Ripley moved through the silent corridors, each open room was filled with salvage equipment or scrap metal, the latter of which was what they appeared to have been using for field-repairs around the ship. Still, the lights were on, and she could feel the quiet rumbling of the engines through the floor, meaning that it was space-worthy… if nothing else.

"Ricardo, I don't know if you can hear this." She began as she turned the next corner. "But the Anesidora's basic systems are online; lights, doors… not sure about comms, though… and there's no sign of Marlow or Taylor."

" _Ripley_?" An unexpected voice replied. " _Ripley, is that you? How the hell did you get over here? But, hey, welcome to the Anesidora… you looking to join my crew? Heh… plenty of free spots_."

It was Marlow, but Ripley figured that she shouldn't have been surprised that he would be monitoring internal communications onboard his own ship. She had also hoped to hear Taylor's voice next, but it didn't come, and without Ricardo to give directions, the Anesidora had to be mapped out the old fashioned way. Ripley passed crew-quarters, the stasis chamber, a generator room, and something that might have _once_ been a rec-room… everything except what she was looking for.

"Marlow, you need to change course _right now_." She continued, moving down another corridor. "Your ship is headed right toward Sevastopol; what are you doing?"

" _What no one else can, sweetheart_." Marlow replied. " _Now how's about you come find me, huh? I have something for you_. _There's a little staircase about thirty meters ahead of you, to the right_."

She was a little hesitant to follow his directions, but there _was_ a staircase just where he said it was, so Ripley climbed it, and found herself on the upper deck of the ship. Like onboard the Torrens, this level was dedicated to ship operations, which meant that if she kept following the path in front of her, eventually it would lead to the Bridge.

" _Getting warmer, Ripley_." Marlow's voice continued. " _You know, it's funny… I tried to save Foster by bringing her to Sevastopol, and yeah, I think I broke just about every damn quarantine rule in the book. Waits wasn't gonna let us onboard, you know… but then I told him about the flight recorder, and he caved… for a share of the reward, of course. But then that thing burst out of her, and I realized how stupid I'd been_. _I know you won't agree with what I'm about to do… at least, not until you understand it the way I do… and I have something for you that I think will be pretty convincing._ "

The corridor straightened out, and after passing a small room that looked like a darkened computer core, the large door in front of her opened, allowing Ripley to step onto the Bridge. It was a cluttered mess like the rest of the ship, with junk and scrap metal covering everything except for the seats and controls required to fly the thing, but that wasn't what caught her attention. Besides the perfect view of Sevastopol slowly approaching, the first thing that she saw was Marlow leaning on the controls, while Taylor… while Taylor was sitting in one of the chairs with her wrists tied behind it.

"Taylor?!" She exclaimed, stepping forward. "Marlow, what the hell?!

"That's far enough, Ripley." He interrupted, taking a revolver from behind his back and pointing it at Taylor. "You know why she let me out of that cell? Do you, hmm? Tell her why you agreed to let me out, you stupid company _bitch_."

"Ripley, he _double-crossed_ me!" Taylor exclaimed. "He said he was going to give me all the data he had on that creature… so I could give it to the company, and…

Her words became a _yelp_ of surprised pain as Marlow suddenly backhanded her, and Ripley was going to reach for her own revolver, but the Captain was too quick. He grabbed Taylor by the hair and pulled her head back with one hand, cutting off her scream by shoving the barrel of his weapon into her mouth with the other.

"Don't even _think_ about it, sweetheart." Marlow continued, looking at Ripley. "Now, unless you want me to paint the walls with Taylor's brains, you're gonna do two very simple things for me. First, you're going to, _very slowly_ , take out your gun, and toss it over to the far wall. And then _second_ , you're going to walk over to that console to your right, and press the _play_ button. _Now_ , sweetheart."

Ripley was _really_ starting to dislike being called that, but since the Captain literally had a gun in Taylor's mouth, she had no choice but to do what he said. So she tossed the revolver away, before moving over to the console, and pressing the play button. She wasn't sure what she expected to see on the screen, but it certainly wasn't what appeared in flickering green letters.

 _USCSS NOSTROMO_

 _WEYLAND-YUTANI EXECUTIVE OFFICER RECORDS_

 _W.O. RIPLEY, ELLEN – TRANSMISSION RECEIVED_

 _ORIGIN: NARCISSUS – REMOTE MESSAGE COMMITED_

 _CACHE REF: 48895/56243/73316/11251_

" _Added report; personal message_." A voice that made her gasp began. " _This is, um… for my daughter… hi, Amanda, I'm recording this for you, my sweetheart, and, um… I hope you get to hear it one day_."

"Mommy?" Ripley whispered as her eyes teared up. "Marlow, where did you get this?"

"It doesn't matter." The Captain snapped, making Taylor cry out when he tightened his grip on her hair. "Just keep listening."

" _Sweetheart, I, um… I got into some trouble_." Ellen Ripley's voice continued. " _My ship, um, well… there was an accident, and… we found… we found an alien creature. It was very dangerous, and, well… the only way to stop it was to destroy the ship. Now, don't worry, I'm okay… on stuck on this lifeboat a long way out, but we had to destroy the Nostromo. We just couldn't risk bringing that thing home with us. I needed to make sure that you were safe, and hopefully, I'll get to see you very soon. I love you, sweetheart_."

 _MESSAGE END_

"You see?" Marlow asked once the screen went blank. "Your mother ran into the _same creature_ ; probably picked it up the same way we did. But she was smart, your mom, she figured out that you can't fight these things… all you can do is refuse to engage, and stop them from making contact. Because if they make contact, they win, and I'm gonna make sure that the Human Race never makes contact with them again."

"What are you talking about?" Ripley asked as he moved away from Taylor. "You don't mean… destroying the Anesidora?"

But apparently he did, and the fact that the ship was headed right toward Sevastopol was intentional as well. The way Marlow described it, he had set the ship's fusion reactor to a slow buildup, hence the power-save mode, and then overloading it. This would effectively turn the Anesidora into a nuclear weapon… one that was going to detonate the moment it made contact with the station, meaning that no one would survive.

"We have to wipe out every trace of them." The Captain continued, letting go of Taylor as he moved away. "The company's never going to know what happened here, _no one_ is; I'm going to make sure of it… and _you're_ going to help me."

Programming a sequence like he was describing would take two people, so of course Marlow would need Ripley's help, and with his revolver still pointed at Taylor, it didn't appear that she had any choice. The Captain motioned for her to come up to the control panels so that they could enter the final sequences together, but instead of entering the commands once she was in position, she decided to make her move. The instant that Marlow looked away to press a button, Ripley grabbed the revolver with both hands, twisting it around, while at the same time kicking him in the back of the knee.

This caused the Captain to fall against the control panel while Ripley took possession of the weapon, stepping backwards and aiming it at him just as he was standing back up. Marlow put up his hands when ordered, but instead of trying to subdue or restrain him, she moved backwards in order to free Taylor. It was a little difficult to untie her wrists with one hand, especially since she couldn't afford to take her eyes off the Captain, but soon Taylor was free. However, there was still the matter of the Anesidora heading toward Sevastopol, and only Marlow knew the codes to deactivate the auto-pilot in order to change course.

"You're making a mistake, Ripley." He said when she told him what to do. "Do you think your mother would want a bunch of corporate suits knowing the zip-code of those creatures? If she were here, she would be _helping_ me."

"There might be _people_ still alive on Sevastopol." Ripley argued as she moved closer. "My mother would understand that, now either deactivate the auto-pilot, or get the hell out of the way so I can do it myself."

Keeping his hands up as he stepped back, Ripley was moving up to the controls, when Marlow swung his hand into a metal tray on top of the other station next to them, knocking a large assortment of screws and small tools onto her hands. This was enough to make the revolver point away from him, so the Captain lunged forward, grabbing onto the weapon like she had, and then head-butting her hard enough to make Ripley fall against the controls like he had.

"There, that's better." Marlow said, pointing the weapon at her. "So now that we're _done_ playing games, you're either gonna help me, or I'm gonna shoot you in the leg and ask you again. Or maybe I'll shoot you once _first_ , to show you that I'm serious."

"No!" Taylor yelled, grabbing his arm when he started to aim. "Don't do this, Marlow… there has to be another way!"

His response was to push her away before swinging the revolver, striking Taylor in the side of the head hard enough to make her spin around before tumbling over a nearby chair. Ripley of course, wasted no time in making another grab for the weapon, but this time the Captain was ready. Not only was he able to keep her from getting it, but he also swung the revolver again, hitting her in the side of the head like he had done to Taylor. She started to stumble back, but Marlow grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back, giving her a second hit with the weapon that made her ears ring… and then a third hit that made her lose consciousness.


	28. Chapter 28 Cascade Failure

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty Eight: Cascade Failure**

Dimly aware of being carried down the corridor away from the Bridge, Ripley struggled to keep her eyes open, but was unable to do so for more than a second at a time before everything would go black again. Each time she forced them to open, the area around her was different, but where was Marlow taking her? She was facing backwards, mostly looking at the floor, meaning that the Captain had her over his shoulder. Her whole body had gone numb as well, aside from the throbbing pain in her head, but then the ride was suddenly over when Marlow roughly tossed her down like a sack of potatoes.

Instead of hitting the floor, she only fell a couple feet, onto a metal workbench of some kind. It was getting a little easier to hold her eyes open now, but her body was still barely responding, making it easy for Marlow to pull her wrists above her head. It was a struggle for Ripley to hold her head up enough to see that the Captain was handcuffing her to the upper frame of the bench, leaving her in a sort of sitting position when he stepped back.

"Hope those aren't too tight, _sweetheart_." He said, knowing damn well that they were hurting her. "A little parting gift from our _friends_ at the Colonial Marshals."

Turning her eyes from him, Ripley was able to see that they had moved down into the lower levels of the ship, and from the massive feature that dominated the whole back of the room, she realized that they were inside the Anesidora's _Fusion Reactor Chamber_. Taylor was there as well, although she didn't look like she was handling the situation very well. The poor girl was shaking like a leaf; obviously scared out of her wits, standing over by the controls. Her glasses were gone, probably broken when Marlow hit her on the Bridge, and there were a few more bruises forming on her face, as if he had hit her a few more times after that.

"Okay, ladies, here's how we're gonna do this." Marlow explained, turning to Taylor. "Since _little Amanda_ here doesn't wanna be a team player, it now falls to _you_ to help me finish the sequence. So you're going to walk over to that console on the left by the fusion core, and you're gonna do _exactly_ what I tell you… because if you _don't_ , then _sweetheart_ over here is going to have a _really_ bad day."

"Don't help him, Taylor." Ripley ordered defiantly. "If you help him overload the fusion core, then we're all dead any…

Ripley's words became a cry of pain as the Captain grabbed her by the front of the shirt pulling her off the table so that the handcuffs dug heavily into her wrists. He then grabbed her by the hair, yanked her head back so that she was bent backwards over the table, and shoved the barrel of his revolver so far down her throat that she started gagging on it.

"No, don't!" Taylor begged, stepping toward them. "Marlow, please, don't!"

"Move over to the console, Taylor." Marlow said, pulling back the hammer with his thumb. "I won't tell you again."

Doing what he said, Taylor quickly moved over to the console, and the Captain slowly un-cocked the hammer. He then pulled it out of Ripley's mouth so fast that she started coughing, and wiped it off on her cheek before stepping over to his own console. Marlow immediately began to enter commands, while telling Taylor what to do on her end, leaving Ripley pretty much helpless to stop what was happening.

She pulled and struggled against the metal frame she was bound to, but neither it, nor the handcuffs would budge… not that she really expected them to. Now the Anesidora's fusion core was beginning to power up, crackling and sparking with all of the built-up energy that had been diverted to it, and if it was allowed to continue…

"Marlow, stop, please, I'm begging you!" She yelled, pulling again on the cuffs. "You don't have to do this! We can contact the Torrens, and everyone can escape together! Marlow, please don't kill us!"

"Shut up, Ripley, just shut the fuck up!" He yelled, stomping over to her after pushing a last button. "You're already dead, don't you get it?! Just like Foster… just like everyone who comes into contact with those creatures... she was my wife, and I had to watch her die, but now I can…

Now it was Marlow's turn to have his words cut off, since while he was screaming at Ripley, Taylor had picked up a large wrench from the floor. In a move that Ripley would never have expected, the timid company girl came up behind the Captain, and swung the wrench into the back of his head with all her strength. Marlow never even knew what hit him, as he collapsed to the floor with blood pooling around his head, and then Taylor dropped the wrench. She stared down at him with eyes wide, and then she stepped back while putting her shaking hands over her mouth, as if suddenly realizing that she had killed a man.

"Taylor!" Ripley yelled as the fusion core continued to charge. "Taylor, snap out of it!"

The terrified girl remained there, just staring at Marlow's body for several seconds, but then she gasped and looked around as if suddenly remembering what was happening around her. The next thing she did was run to Ripley to make sure that she was all right, but the important thing was getting the key to her handcuffs… which Taylor didn't like at all, since it meant digging through a dead man's pockets.

"Ripley… I can't." She said, shying away from Marlow. "I… I killed him… I can't."

"Taylor, listen to me." Ripley replied, trying to stay calm. "I know you're scared right now, but I can stop the overload, okay? I can save us, but I need your help… just be brave for me a _little_ longer, and then we can all go home… can you do that for me, Taylor?"

The terrified girl swallowed hard, and looked like she was going to vomit, but she managed to search through the Captain's pockets until the key was found. Ripley sighed with relief as Taylor unlocked the cuffs, and then took a second to rub her aching wrists before moving up to the console that had been previously used by Marlow.

"Okay, we have to move fast." She explained. "Open the fusion systems on your end so that I can access the secondary feedback buffers."

"W… what?" Taylor asked, looking down at her console. "I… I don't… what?"

There really wasn't time to walk her through the process step by step, but if the excess energy wasn't drained off from the fusion core, nothing would stop the overload. All this, in addition to the whole ship shaking as a result of the buildup, was making it really hard to keep calm, but if Ripley panicked, then everyone would die. So, trying to be as basic as she could, she told Taylor how to activate the auxiliary generator in order to get power to the emergency systems.

So far it was going good; the auxiliary generator came online, and then so did the feedback buffers a few seconds later, but something was wrong. Ripley pushed the button to activate the cooldown sequence, but the buffers wouldn't engage. She pushed it again, and again, but nothing happened. Meanwhile, the fusion core continued to power-up, causing streaks of lightning to begin striking the walls, while dozens of warnings started to flash across the consoles.

" _Primary System collapse_?" Ripley read aloud as her mouth ran dry. " _Total System-wide cascade failure_ … oh fuck, Marlow rigged it! Taylor, he's forced the overload, the ship's gonna…

Her words were stopped as a blast of energy was released from the fusion core, throwing Ripley sideways, where she crashed right through the table that she had been handcuffed to. Her ears were ringing, and a sudden dizziness made her unable to get up, but as these symptoms faded, she realized that the room was on fire. Flames were slowly spreading across the walls and through the hissing pipes, while the fusion core continued to overload… but all of this was forgotten after what she saw next.

"Taylor!" Ripley yelled as she ran to her. "Taylor, come on, we have to get out of here!"

She had apparently been thrown across the room as well, and collapsed on the floor near the wall. But when Ripley turned her over, she gasped when she realized that her hand was now covered in blood from the back of Taylor's head. There was a blood-stained impact mark on the wall above them, and Ripley was frantically looking around for an emergency kit or something, when Taylor coughed a little.

"Ripley?" She whispered, looking at her. "I want… to… go… home…

"Taylor?" Ripley asked as the girl stopped breathing. "Taylor?! No! No, Taylor, no, no, no! Taylor!"

Then the whole ship shook again, and she remembered the severity of the situation. The Anesidora was shaking violently as the flames continued to spread, and now there were alarms blaring all throughout. It pained Ripley to just leave Taylor there, but the fusion core was only minutes away from complete overload, which meant that she had to move, _now_. So she jumped up and sprinted away from the core, running back down the corridor as tiny explosions began erupting from the floor and walls.

Suddenly there was a large explosion from the wall just ahead, creating a wall of intense flames that she was just barely able to avoid running into. It was impossible to continue on this way, so she turned and ran through the next door, which led to an upward ramp. The Anesidora shook again, making Ripley fall against a part of the guardrail that had a flame shooting onto it, making her cry out from burning her hands on the red-hot metal.

The explosions and shakings were getting worse now, but the good news was that she had made it back to the level of the ship that she had landed on, meaning that the ambulance shuttle had to be somewhere nearby. So she sprinted, traveling down the only path available, due to walls of flame being erected in almost every direction that she tried. This ship was like a maze; the corridors twisting and turning until she had no idea where she was, and panic finally started setting in as she desperately looked around for something that looked familiar.

The flames were still spreading, and now the Anesidora was rocking to the side, so much in fact, that Ripley was sent tumbling down the corridor as if it were a hole. Screaming, and covering her eyes as she fell right toward a wall of fire, she felt intense heat only for a moment before crashing into something that was a lot softer than she would have expected. It was a chair of some kind, and past that was a series of control panels with what looked like a flight-stick… and that was when she realized that she had fallen right into the ambulance shuttle.

It was difficult to get into the seat and strap in, being that the Anesidora's gravity had turned sideways, but soon she had managed it. With a pull of the lever next to her, she locked and sealed the door, and then pressed the button that would begin the launch sequence. Slowly, the shuttle's engines fired, launching her away from the doomed ship as it closed in on Sevastopol station.

Less than a minute later, the Anesidora exploded.


	29. Chapter 29 Ambush

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Twenty Nine: Ambush**

The explosion of the Anesidora released a tremendous shockwave in all directions, tearing into the hull of the station's nearest tower, and sending the ambulance shuttle spiraling out of control. It was a good thing that Ripley had remembered to buckle herself in before launching, since she was now being thrown around like a rag-doll while fighting to regain control of the small craft.

The control panels were flashing red, meaning that the shuttle had taken a good amount of damage, but thankfully most of it had been caused by the resulting EMP from the explosion. This was fixed by basically shutting everything off and rebooting the systems, allowing everything outside to stop spinning as Ripley slowly stabilized the shuttle, but this whole experience had left her incredibly dizzy So much, in fact, that she had to lean over the side of the seat in order to avoid making a mess on herself when she vomited a few seconds later.

Coughing and leaning back in the seat once she was finished, Ripley wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand, while wondering why her mother would _ever_ have wanted to be a pilot in the first place. Then she looked out the window at the incredible amount of damage that Sevastopol's tower had taken, and figured that pilots in this situation would probably think the same thing about engineers. The station looked like the whole thing had been tilted off balance, and there was damage to the base as well, but then her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden voice that made her jump.

" _Sevastopol, what the fuck is going on around here_?!" Verlaine's voice demanded. " _I just saw a God damn ship explode on your starboard side, and I think it damaged your stabilizer array! Look, we can take survivors if you need to evacuate, but there's no place to dock… please, respond if you can_."

For a moment Ripley wasn't sure where the voice was coming from, since it wasn't in her headset, but then she wanted to slap herself in the face for forgetting about the shuttle's radio. An _emergency_ radio that was _independent_ of Apollo… meaning that the fucking computer couldn't stop her from making contact.

"Verlaine!" She shouted into the receiver. "Verlaine, this is Ripley on the station! Are you reading me?"

" _Ripley_?" Verlaine's surprised voice replied. " _Ripley, where in the blue fuck have you three been?! What… what the hell is going on down there_?!"

Oh, Jesus, where to start, she thought; but there was no time to give the Torrens' Captain anything but the really short version of what she had been through. Samuels and Taylor were dead, and there was an alien creature that was killing everything that it encountered. Verlaine's confusion was expected, since Ripley wouldn't have believed it either if she hadn't seen the thing first hand, but what she and the other survivors needed now more than anything was extraction.

" _There's nowhere for us to dock, Ripley_." Verlaine said. " _Your orbital stabilizers are blown; Sevastopol is tearing itself away from its gravity mooring. I mean… I think I see some kind of towing platform beneath the spaceflight terminal, but… but the Torrens' umbilical isn't built for it… you'll have to extend the tow platform clamps station-side_."

The very _last_ thing that Ripley wanted to do right then was go back onboard Sevastopol, but she couldn't just leave Ricardo and any others… that, and the shuttle was apparently leaking fuel, meaning that she had no choice. The only thing that she could tell Verlaine was to get her ship into position, and then try to make it to one of the stations access ports. The nearest tower was a no-go for obvious reasons, and medical facility was too far away, at least, at the rate she was losing fuel, meaning that her only landing point was near comms.

But that was good, since this was where Ricardo was hold-up, so Ripley adjusted the shuttle's course, and activated the auto-pilot to bring her in. Meanwhile, her fuel was running out fast, causing the lights to flicker, and the engine to bog down during the final turn around to dock with the station. The shuttle finally died completely just after locking onto the access port, meaning that it couldn't be used again.

"Ricardo, get ready to move, we're leaving." She said into her headset while getting unbuckled. "The Anesidora is toast, and Taylor… I got in contact with the Torrens, and we have a way off the station, but I'm gonna need you to come with me on this one."

" _That's the best news I've heard in weeks_." The Deputy's voice replied as she stepped through the access port. " _Aside from hearing that you're still alive, that is, and, well… sorry to hear about Taylor… anyway, I'm still in the comms office, so meet me here, and we'll…_

Then his words just stopped, and Ripley thought that she heard some faint sounds in the background, but then everything was quiet. She called for him several times while moving down the corridor, but couldn't say anything more than a harsh whisper into the radio, without risking being discovered by Working Joes or those creatures. The corridor opened up into a large control room; the same one, in fact, where she had needed to avoid the Androids in order to take the fastest route to San Christobal, but this time there didn't seem to be any of them around.

" _Warning: Gravity coupling malfunction_." An automated voice announced. " _Orbital stabilizers at seventy-five percent and falling. Please report to your assigned evacuation point, and await further instructions_."

Further instructions from _who_? She wondered as the floor began to vibrate a little more than usual. And then a horrible thought entered her mind, when Ripley realized the possibility that she and Ricardo could have been the last two people on Sevastopol. The office was at the other end of the control room, and down the side corridor, so she ran across the room, now more than ever needing to make sure that the Deputy survived. Everything would be all right if the two of them could accomplish this one last task, and then they could escape, and… and then her hope was shattered when she reached the comms office window.

Ricardo was still in there, sitting in the chair in front of the radio… but… but there was one of those… those… things… those spider things that she had seen in the nest… attached to his face. The Deputy just sat there motionless; the spider-thing's fingers around his head, and its tail constricted around his neck, just like the other man that Ripley had seen this happen to in the nest.

"No!" She screamed, running through the door. "No! No, Ricardo, no! No, you're not leaving me like this!"

Ripley wasn't about to lose him like she had lost… _everyone else_ , meaning that the spider-thing would have to come off. So she ran up to Ricardo, and spun his chair toward her before grabbing onto the spider-thing's body. The fingers and tail both tightened their grip in response to her efforts, resisting no matter how hard she pulled, but the thing just wouldn't come off. She was just starting to look for a tool of some kind that would help, but then a noise came from above, and Ripley gasped as one of the survivors of the nest dropped onto the floor in front of her.

Like the first one that had gotten this close in San Christobal, this creature towered over her once it stood up to its full height, and then it seemed to smile as it put one of its large black hands on the Deputy's shoulder. But why would it do that? Ripley wondered as she took a step back. It was like it was _proud_ of itself for what happened to Ricardo, but that didn't make any sense… unless it had gone after him _on purpose_ … and the creature's smile just got bigger as it took a single step forward to match her retreat.

But the only way it would be pleased with getting Ricardo would be if it understood that Ripley would come running if he were in danger… so was this a… a _trap_? Had this been a trap that was set specifically for her? Were these creatures even that smart? Regardless of whether or not the trap was intended, she was unarmed, and the creature was still taking steps forward to match her retreat as she moved out into the corridor. Turning to run the moment she was able, her only hope was to continue down the corridor and reach one of the nearby elevators… but then she had to immediately stop when she saw that there was another creature blocking her path a short distance away.

Instinctively turning to ran back toward the control room, Ripley had just started to sprint, when the office creature's spear-like tail shot out. But instead of stabbing her like had been done to Axel, it went between her feet, so that she fell on her face when it tripped her. Scrambling to her feet again, and running toward the control room, the tail tripped her a second time, making her stumble a few steps before eating the floor.

Taking a quick look back, the creature was still very slowly coming toward her, but instead of getting up right away, Ripley scooted along the floor until she passed under a large control station. This gave her a second to think about how she was going to escape, but when she looked at the second doorway that led out of the room, she gasped when she saw that there was _another_ creature blocking that path as well. This left only the way she had first come into comms; down the same corridor where she had first seen a Working Joe kill someone… but then tears started running down her cheeks when she saw that _another_ creature was blocking that was as well.

She was trapped… the survivors of the nest had set a trap _for her_ , and Ripley had fallen into it like a moron. Now the creature from the office had reached the control station, and she couldn't help whimpering like a frightened child while its large, black feet could be seen slowly circling around. Then it dropped down to all fours so that it could see her, and its grin became an angry growl as it grabbed her by the ankle. Ripley shrieked when it pulled her out from under the control station, but found herself falling silent; becoming a little pale when the creature roared right in her face.

"No." She whimpered as it just looked at her. "No… please… no."

She expected it to stab her with its inner mouth, like what had been done to Kuhlman, but instead its grip on her ankle tightened before it started dragging her away. Ripley kicked at the creature, and tried to grab onto something to help her escape, but there was nothing that she could do. Suddenly she was lifted off the floor as the creature leapt up onto the ceiling, and she screamed as it dragged her into the darkness of a nearby vent.


	30. Chapter 30 Facehugger

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Thirty: Facehugger**

" _Warning: Gravity coupling failure eminent_." An automated voice announced. " _Orbital stabilizers at thirty percent and falling. Evacuate Sevastopol station, this is not a drill. Repeat, evacuate Sevastopol station, this is not a drill_."

It was a struggle at first just to open her eyes, but once she did, Ripley realized that she was in a different place. There was smoke in the air, while fire was spreading out from exposed wires and gas pipes, and there was something strange about parts of the walls and ceiling. They were partially covered by a pattern of rib-like structures, but it was only when she noticed the large brownish pods on the floor that she realized what it was. This place was starting to look just like the nest that she had destroyed at the bottom of the reactor, but most importantly… she couldn't move.

Still trying to shake off the dizziness from having her head smacked around while that creature carried her through the vent, she managed to turn her head to see that her arm was pinned down by thinner tendrils of the same substance that coated the wall behind her. It took a second to turn her head the other way to see that her left arm was restrained as well, but then the dizziness was replaced by a surge of adrenaline, when she realized that she was… _cocooned_ in a standing position the same way that the people had been inside the nest.

Panic was starting to set in, causing Ripley to pull at the tendrils with all her strength, but they just wouldn't budge. All around her were more people who had been restrained, although most of them were dead with that same strange wound on their chest that she had seen before… and in front of each one was one of those opened pods. Looking down, she gasped when it was discovered that there was one in front of her as well… but this one was still closed, meaning that the spider-creature was still inside.

"No." She gasped between rapid breaths while pulling again. "No… no, gotta get out… gotta get out."

She was still able to move one of her legs, and it took some effort, but she was able to move it up so that her foot was braced against the wall behind her. So she pulled against the tendrils one more time, now with her leg adding to the force as it pushed her away from the wall, causing a faint cracking sound to reach her ears. The tendrils were giving way, and with a little more force, they finally broke completely; shattering into pieces as Ripley tumbled toward the floor.

She landed right on top of a dead body, her face about an inch from his before she was able to jump back and scoot away. Backing up from both the body as well as the sealed pod that was meant for her, Ripley kept moving until her back was against the wall, but then jumped again when something grabbed onto her shoulder. Twisting around to free herself, the first thing she saw was one of those spider-things, but it was dead; lying on its fingers curled inward. The thing that grabbed her, however, was not dead, and thankfully turned out to be another cocooned person. She was in a standing position just like Ripley had been, but she did not look well.

"Hold on." Ripley said as she got to her feet. "I'm gonna get you out of here."

"No." The woman groaned before an effort to free her could start. "Kill… me."

There was no way that she was going to kill this woman, nor was she going to just leave her there, so Ripley ignored the woman's continued cries while starting to pull on the tendrils. She was happy to have another chance to save someone from this nightmare, and the tendrils were just starting to crack, when the woman cried out in agony. This outcry quickly turned into a scream, but then the scream was replaced by gurgling and convulsions as the woman started to foam at the mouth.

Was she an epileptic? Ripley wondered. Had the stress and strain of the situation caused her to have an attack? She was about to start looking for something to put into her mouth so she couldn't bite off her tongue, when something moved underneath the woman's shirt. She continued to thrash around while her shirt slowly became stained with what looked like blood, and then there was a shrieking sound as something literally tore its way out of her through her chest cavity. It was a small creature… not a spider-thing, but like… a really small version of the big creatures. The woman went limp as the creature finished freeing itself, and then it jumped down to the floor, scurrying away before Ripley could even fully register what happened.

She had suspected that this was how the creatures reproduced, based on what she saw inside the first nest, but to see it actually happen right in front of her was a whole different matter entirely. These things were like something out of a nightmare, and this made her think about how her mother used to tell her that there were no such thing as real monsters… but there _were_. They were right here on Sevastopol… and on that planet that Marlow described… and apparently onboard the Nostromo as well.

" _Warning: Evacuate the station immediately_." The automated voice announced. " _Orbital stabilizers at twenty-eight percent and falling_."

The Torrens was still waiting for her to extend the towing platform so that she and any other survivors would be able to escape on it, but first Ripley had to figure out where she was. So she was starting to look for a directory sign or something, when a soft kind of squishing sound came from behind. Turning around to see what it was, she gasped and was just barely able to move out of the way as the spider-thing from _her_ now open pod, leapt at her. The spider-thing flew right past her head, landing on the floor a short distance away, and she knocked a stack of empty cargo boxes on top of it before it could turn back around.

She didn't expect this to kill the thing, but it gave her a few seconds to find a way out of the room, and this exit came in the form of a vent-size hole that had bene torn through the wall nearby. The spider-thing could be heard shrieking as it worked to free itself from the boxes, and Ripley wasted no time in crawling through the hole. There were more pods, mostly already open, sitting in the corridor when she came out the other side, but no creatures in sight, so she got to her feet and started moving.

"Verlaine." She coughed into her headset. "Verlaine, are you close enough for radio contact? I'm here."

" _Ripley, where the hell have you been_?!" The Torrens' Captain replied. " _The Torrens is in position, but I need you to extend the docking cradle clamps, like right now! Hurry_!"

This place was on fire, too, the smoke making it hard to breathe as she moved down the corridor. There was a directory sign on the wall, though, and it said _TRANSIT/TERMINAL MAINTENANCE_. This was good news, since underneath the spaceflight terminal was exactly where she was supposed to be, but then something moved behind her. It was purely out of reflex that Ripley turned around, and that reflex also caused her to put her arms up when the spider-thing came flying through the air.

This time she was unable to avoid it, but the defensive position of her arms kept it from immediately latching onto her face. This thing was a lot stronger than it looked; trying to fight through her arms with its fingers while wrapping its long tail around her throat. Somehow Ripley managed to keep her balance, which was good, since it would probably be all over if it got her on the ground, but now the tail was constricting on her neck.

Continuing to stumble backwards while gasping for breath, Ripley could feel herself weakening as the spider-thing slowly crawled its way toward her face, and now a long tube of some kind was protruding from its underbelly. The tube extended until it hit against her lips, and now it was trying to force its way into her mouth while the tail constricted until she couldn't even gasp anymore. Closer and closer its body came, and the tube was just pushing past her lips, when her strength gave out.

Falling backwards onto the floor, Ripley thought it was all over, and it might have been if the deck plating hadn't collapsed underneath her weight. She crashed hard to the service area about a floor below where she had been, and as for the spider-thing, it shrieked while enjoying a landing that was not quite as easy. It had fallen onto a sharp piece of metal, where the acid from its impaled body quickly began to dissolve everything around it. That metal also happened to be on fire, causing the spider-thing's body to blacken and curl up before it was able to free itself.

"Fuck you!" She coughed, struggling to get to her feet. "Fuck you… stupid little… fuck you!"

There wasn't as much smoke in this area, since it was all floating up to where she had previously been, and the weakened feeling was starting to fade. There was a door up ahead, and the indicator light was green, meaning that it wasn't unaccusable just yet. She was still a little shaky when she tried to walk, and this was expected, since she had only _just_ managed to avoid the same fate as Ricardo, but now Ripley had an advantage. Those creatures probably thought she was dead by now, or at least implanted like their other victims, and this meant that they wouldn't be looking for her.

As long as Ripley could stay out of sight, it should be easy to get to the towing platform and extend it, so she waited for the door to slide open, and stepped out onto a set of train-tracks just as a runaway transit car came barreling toward her.


	31. Chapter 31 Platform Maintenance

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Thirty One: Platform Maintenance**

Feeling the wind and heat as the burning, runaway transit car passed within inches of her face, Ripley cried out while stumbling backwards. She tripped over a piece of metal debris and fell on her rear, her hands shaking and eyes wide until the transit car had passed completely. She had expected that a lot of Sevastopol's systems would be damaged by the Anesidora's explosion, but the transit cars going rogue hadn't even crossed her mind. There was no visible way to climb back up to where she was before falling with that spider-thing, and the Torrens was counting on her, meaning that she couldn't stay where she was.

"Okay, Amanda, you can do this." She said to herself as she got to her feet. "There's only a few transit cars on Sevastopol, and only about half of those could come through here."

Moving back into the doorway, and listening for the sound of anything approaching, Ripley sprinted across the tracks, before ducking down behind some more debris in the area between them in case any of those creatures were around. For the moment, the only things she could hear were the alarms and the constant crackling of the spreading fire, so she was about to head across the next section of tracks, when one of those creatures suddenly dropped down from a nearby vent.

Ducking back behind the debris again, Ripley watched as it kind of paced around the area, and she was trying to figure out the best time to make a break for it, when another creature appeared from further down the tunnel. This one also seemed contented to search around the area, probably looking for more people for the new nest, but this also made her think about something: With as obviously smart as these things were… did they even _understand_ what was about to happen to the station?

Either way, she did understand what was happening, so Ripley needed to keep moving, but she also couldn't afford to let these creatures know that she was still alive, since they seemed to… have it out for _her_ specifically. All of her weapons were gone, with her only remaining tool being the access tuner, and the only thing left in her pockets being a bunch of now useless bullets for the revolver. Oh well, even if she still _had_ the weapon, she had seen how useless it was against them back in San Christobal, and even if it wasn't, they would just swarm her after firing a single…

Suddenly an idea popped into her head, causing Ripley to dig through her pockets until all of the bullets were in her hands. She then tossed them as far away as she could, where they landed in one of the larger enflamed areas, and now she just had to wait for them to heat up. For a while the creatures just continued pacing around, and as the first minute ticked by, she was worried that the plan had failed. So Ripley was trying to think of something else to try, when she jumped a little as the tunnels echoed with a _bang…bang…bang_.

The creatures also reacted to this, shrieking as they both ran toward the sound, and Ripley used all of this noise to cover the sound of her own sprinting as she took off across the tracks. So far the creatures didn't seem to have noticed her, and there were no transit cars coming that she could see, so she kept going until suddenly there was no floor beneath her. Thankfully she only fell about eight feet before landing on her side on the metal floor below, and it took her a second to realize that it was just a service pit for the tracks that she had fallen into.

There was no time to stay there, since with her luck the creatures would somehow figure out that the bullets were a decoy, so she scrambled to her feet, and looked for a way up. There was a maintenance ladder built into the side of the pit-wall, so Ripley ran over to it and climbed up, only to be knocked back down from the windy force of a transit car that passed over the pit at the same time. Landing on her back, and staring up at the burning vehicle as each of its cars passed by, she could only hope that its noise had been enough to cover the scream she had let out while falling.

"Too close." She whispered to herself. "Oh, Jesus… just let me make it through this."

Soon the transit car had passed, and Ripley climbed up the ladder again, although this time taking a second to look for any more cars before pulling herself out. There were only two more sections of tracks to cross over until she reached the other side, which happened without incident, and then it was a short trip down the edge of the tunnel before she found the entrance to one of the maintenance offices. The door was stuck halfway open, so she had to crawl under it, but more importantly than the office itself, was that it provided her with a staircase back to the level she had started at.

The shaking and explosions around the station were getting worse now, making it hard to keep her balance when she reached the top of the stairs and started down the corridor. However, luck seemed to be on her side, at least for the moment, since the next door she found just happened to have the words _TOWING PLATFORM MAINTENANCE_ painted on the wall above it. The door was also stuck mostly closed, so Ripley had to drop down on her stomach and squeeze her way through it.

"Verlaine!" She called into the headset once inside. "Verlaine, please tell me you're still here!"

" _Ripley, thank God_." Verlaine's voice replied. " _We're in trouble, here… when we didn't hear from you, we tried to maneuver the Torrens onto the towing platform manually so we could take on survivors… and it worked, but the gravitational pull has twisted the rig… we're being pulled down with Sevastopol_."

It disheartened Ripley to inform the Torrens' Captain that there _were_ no other survivors, not that it would matter if the ship got crushed in the gas giant along with Sevastopol, but thankfully Verlaine already had a plan. There was always an airlock on platforms such as this one for maintenance access, so if she could find an EVA suit, Ripley would be able to go outside and detonate the explosive bolts. So even if the Torrens was stuck on the platform, the platform would be separated from the station itself.

Not that she wanted to go outside again, but it was better than staying _there_ , since the fire had spread all throughout the room. The smoke was also so thick that it was nearly blinding, meaning that Ripley had to stay crouched down in order to find her way to the airlock all the way on the far side. The fire hadn't quite reached the airlock yet, so she ran through and sealed the door behind her, before opening the suit locker and putting one on. The station was shaking even more now as she clicked her helmet into place, and after the depressurizing sequence was completed, she saw why.

Beyond the trapped Torrens, whose engines were firing at full thrust in order to slow the station's descent, all of the debris from Sevastopol was falling toward the gas giant… which was now a lot closer than it had been the last time Ripley looked out a window. The absolute last thing that Ripley wanted to do was follow along, so she attached her suit's safety ring to the guardrail, and began moving along the maintenance walkway.

The path branched out toward several areas of the platform, but the one she was after, the emergency release, was all the way out at the end. This made it really easy to navigate toward it, but spacewalking was slow… and the gas giant was approaching fast. The shaking was now becoming so intense that it felt like the station was going to rip itself apart, and its angle was tilting more downward as the whole tower which had been damaged by the Anesidora ripped itself away from the main body. It flew into the upper atmosphere and vanished just like the module containing the first creature had done, but by this time the emergency release system was in sight.

"I'm here!" Ripley shouted as she reached the end of the walkway. "I'll have you free in a second!"

" _That's so good to hear, Ripley_." Verlaine's voice replied. " _I've set the Torrens' airlock to auto so you can get in once it's finished. See you soon._ "

Moving around the end of the walkway to the manual release system, she opened the control box, and quickly read through the instructions printed on the inside of the lid. It wasn't that complicated, actually; first she had to punch in a release code, and then use the handle-attachments to raise up four control cylinders. There was a little panel on each one that had to be opened, and once she pushed the command switch within, each had to be closed again for the system to lock. The control cylinders began to glow once activated, and then all that was left was one last button to…

Suddenly Ripley's thoughts stopped as something moved beyond the box, and when she looked up, she couldn't help but scream as she saw one of the creatures walking toward her. It was moving around in the vacuum of space just as easily as it had inside the station, and also without any kind of a suit or anything to protect it. The creature seemed to smile at her just like when they had sprung the trap with Ricardo, and then when two more creatures joined it by climbing over the rails, it clicked in her hear that these were probably the _same_ three creatures that captured her before.

They slowly and carefully moved so that Ripley was surrounded, most likely meaning to put her back in the nest, but this time the advantage was hers. Unhooking her safety ring, she lunged forward and pressed the final button, clearly startling the creatures when the explosive bolts were fired, causing the whole platform to detach from the station. The creatures were sent flying toward the gas giant with the rest of the debris, but Ripley had grabbed the guardrail and pushed away from it at the last second, making a desperate leap for the Torrens as Sevastopol floated away.


	32. Chapter 32 Goodbye Sevastopol

**Alien: Isolation**

 **Chapter Thirty Two: Goodbye Sevastopol**

The base and two remaining towers that made up Sevastopol station soon began to burn up as the whole thing entered the upper atmosphere of the gas giant. First the metal heated up until it turned red, and then flames began to shoot out from the hottest spots, leaving trails like comets that quickly spread to nearby areas. The last two towers broke apart from the base just before becoming completely consumed by fire, and all three quickly vanished into the swirling brown and yellow mist before finally exploding in a brilliant flash of light.

The shockwave from this blast disturbed the pattern of the gas giant's colors for a few seconds, and then Sevastopol station was gone as if it had never existed in the first place. Marlow's wish that no one would ever know the whole story of what happened there, appeared to have come true; the creatures, Apollo and its murderous Working Joes, along with any of the deranged survivors that might have somehow been still alive… just gone.

As for Ripley, she tumbled through space, seeing the Torrens getting a little closer each time that she spun so that she was facing it for a second. Somehow her aim was spot-on, allowing her to crash right into the side of the airlock door. Well, maybe not _exactly_ spot-on, but she was quick enough to grab the safety handle, which prevented her from bouncing off of the ship and sharing the station's fate. From there, she was able to watch the final destruction of Sevastopol, shielding her eyes for a second when that final flash occurred, and then she pulled herself into the airlock.

Not wanting to crash to the floor this time, like every _other_ instance where she had used an airlock lately, Ripley maneuvered so that her feet were already on the floor when she hit the button to repressurize. The outer door slid closed, and there was a hiss as oxygen was flooded into the room. Gravity reasserted itself a few moments later, and she couldn't help but laugh a little to herself when it dawned on her that she had survived. _She_ had survived… and those creatures had not.

It was painful to think about all of the people who had lost their lives in the process; Axel… Kuhlman… Waits… Samuels… Marlow… Taylor… and Ricardo. None of them had deserved what happened on Sevastopol… _no one_ deserved _anything_ like that, and Ripley was sure as hell going to have some _serious_ words with the company when she got back home. The only _good_ news about this whole trip was that she had at least learned _something_ about what happened to her mother, and hopefully this evidence would be enough for a new search to be put together.

"Verlaine, I made it." She said into the radio, still trying to catch her breath. "I'm gonna get out of this suit, and then I'll come up to the bridge."

There was no response from the Torrens' Captain as the repressurizing sequence completed, and then the airlock's inner door opened, allowing Ripley access to the last hallway before she would be able to actually enter the Torrens and _truly_ relax. The first thing she was going to do, after removing the EVA suit, that is, was take an _incredibly_ long shower. Then she was going to have a nice, hot meal, and finally get some sleep. Except for her bouts of unconsciousness, she hadn't slept a wink since boarding Sevastopol, but then again, as hard as it was to believe… this whole crazy nightmare had only lasted a little over a day.

"Verlaine?" She called again as she reached the door. "Hello?"

Thinking that something must've damaged the comm system during that final escape, Ripley pushed the button to open the door, but then immediately realized that there was nothing wrong with the comms. At first she thought that it was Verlaine or one of the others waiting for her when the door slid open to reveal a figure standing there, but then it looked at her, and she couldn't even manage to scream as the creature stepped through the doorway.

Nearly tripping over her own two feet while trying to back away, the creature smiled at her while keeping pace, and Ripley realized that it must've somehow climbed onboard the Torrens while everyone was distracted. But if it was already in there, and no one was answering the comms… did that mean… did that mean that it had already killed Verlaine and the others? But that wasn't how it was supposed to happen, she thought as she kept backing away… she had bene through hell and survived, and now everyone was supposed to get to go home… it just wasn't fair.

Not that this creature or any of its kind gave a damn about fairness, but now Ripley was literally out of options. She had no weapons or tools, and there was nowhere left to run or hide… all she could do was keep backing up. A few steps later her back was against the wall, and she couldn't help starting to cry when the creature's full height towered over her. No longer thinking rationally, she rushed forward, desperately attempting to knock the creature off balance, but its powerful body was barely moved at all. Instead it simply put its large hand on the front of her suit, and effortlessly shoved her back up against the wall, holding her there as it moved its head closer.

Ripley was glad that she was still wearing the suit, although the helmet was unlikely to be able to protect her from what was about to happen. The creature seemed to smile again as it opened its mouth, and she shrieked when the inner mouth shot forward, although it stopped just short of hitting the helmet. Then it shot out again, making Ripley scream and try to get away, but there was nothing she could do. The creature appeared to be _playing_ with her, as if it were amused by her fear and torment… but then her hand touched something on the wall.

Taking a quick look to the side, she saw that it was the emergency override panel for the outer airlock door that she was currently pinned against, and this gave her a way out… but she couldn't quite get her hand on the button. Ripley tried to slide sideways, only needing an inch or two, but as she felt for the button, she looked back up at the creature. It's sort of smile was gone, slowly being replaced by an angry scowl as it moved its head so close that its Human-like teeth were touching her helmet as it very slowly opened its mouth.

She knew that she wouldn't survive the next stab from its inner mouth, so with all of her strength, Ripley scooted sideways just enough to reach the button. Slamming her hand down onto it, both she and the creature were catapulted into space just like when she had done this to escape the detached science module. The good news was that the creature lost its grip on her, and they flew off in different directions, but as for the bad news… she was in space. For all she knew, everyone on the Torrens had bene killed, and now she was spiraling away from the ship, with no way to contact anyone for help.

At least she had managed to not be shot into the gas giant's atmosphere, but now Ripley was just kind of floating there, and even though there was plenty of air in the suit's tanks, it wouldn't last forever. So she kept on floating, and at some point she must've fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, there was a bright beam of light passing over her face. Everything was kind of blurry when she opened her eyes, but it was really there… maybe a searchlight from a ship… so did that mean she was saved?


End file.
